I had a great time reading Jane Nightshade's new collection of ghost stories titled "A Scream Full of Ghosts."
Many of the stories are set in California's Gold country and feature several colorful old west characters, but my favorite of the anthology takes place in modern day San Francisco.
"Red Onion" is the bittersweet tale of a young man's love for a struggling single mom that extends beyond the grave.
Lisa Roentgen didn't like working late at the video store, but she was saving for a car and there were few jobs in her small town.
Most of her late-night customers were kids from school and then there were the odd balls like the "Fedora Man."
Fedora Man always wore an old-fashioned hat with the brim pulled down over one eye and rented obscure, gory horror films.
Lisa thought Fedora Man's outfit might be part of some weird` role-playing game, but she never had the nerve to ask.
One Friday night, Fedora Man showed up later than usual and after searching through the horror section for several minutes he approached the counter and placed a slip of paper next to the cash register where Lisa was reading a magazine.
The paper said: "Satan's Bloodbath." "Is this a movie you are looking for?" she asked him. Fedora Man nodded vigorously.
Lisa found the store's movie catalog in a drawer and began looking through it. She could find no listing for anything called "Satan's Bloodbath." "I'm sorry, we don't have it." Lisa told the anxious man.
In response, Fedora Man repeatedly tapped the piece of paper with a long, pointed fingernail. "We Don't Have It." Lisa fairly shouted at the bizarre figure.
As quick as lightning, a long, powerful arm snaked across the counter and grabbed Lisa by the arm.
As she was being dragged across the floor, Lisa screamed as loud as she could, but there was no one there to hear her.
Eleventh grade English teacher Amanda Smith was grading papers on a Saturday afternoon when she suddenly felt the need to escape her lonely apartment.
A local park was nice this time of the day, so Amanda grabbed the stack of papers she was working on and hurried out the door.
There were only a few people in the park and Amanda quickly found a bench and resumed grading her student's writing assignment.
Most of the essays from the girls in her class was the same romantic nonsense that she herself had believed in at one time, but Amanda learned long ago that there was no Prince Charming.
Once the assignments were all graded, Amanda set the papers aside and absently watched the ducks down by the lake until she slowly drifted off to sleep.
Sometime later, Amanda was awakened by a touch on her shoulder. "Do you mind if I sit here?" a teen-age girl asked.
Still a little groggy from her nap, Amanda motioned for the girl to sit down.
"Do we know each other?" Amanda asked the young woman.
" I was in your class a few years ago." the girl answered. Amanda didn't remember the young lady, but there had been so many faces.
"Mr. Harris in the math department likes you" the girl announced out of nowhere.
"How could you know that?" Amanda asked with more anger than she intended.
"Since I went away, I've learned many things. I'm not sure that I understand it all" the girl said glancing at a family having a picnic.
Amanda looked more carefully at the young woman and remembered a horrible car wreck that took the life of one of her students.
"Thank you for coming back, Susan." Amanda said to her former student.
The girl waved goodbye as she slowly faded away.
