Giving up the Ghost
A Collection of Paranormal Short Stories.
Rota - Your turn.
A Coffee in a Cafe - A Polish cafe and a love of cake draws two people together.
A Pirate's Gift - A bench’s memories.
Better the Devil You Know - Truth or death? Sometimes you wish something so badly it happens.
A Surprise at the Fairground - A reluctant psychic reveals the truth to her customer.
Giving up the Ghost - A couple discuss how to best deal with their dead cantankerous neighbour.
Excerpt
When the phone rang, he knew immediately who was calling. He went over to the nook by the fridge, and took the wall-mounted device off, holding it to his lips as if he were involved in an affair with a secret lover. ‘H-hello?’
‘Hello, Albert. It’s you know who…’ The speaker was trying very hard for sultry.
‘I don’t know who.’ He knew very well who. That raspy voice had plagued him for months. ‘And this isn’t Albert. You have the wrong number.’
A pause, then, ‘Oh, is that you, Vincie?’ Heavy breathing. ‘Is Lila there?’
‘Yes, she is. I’ll see you later.’
‘I’ll be ready and waiting. Just me, plenty of strawberries, and chocolate. Yum.’
Hurriedly, he hung up and turned back to see his wife pursing her lips. She didn’t say a word, simply continued the wicker basket of fruit. There was a smorgasbord of guava, mangoes, plums, and cherries, all intermingling in a glorious burst of the Caribbean. A visitor would have been forgiven for thinking they’d been grown in warmer climes, but if Lila went to Antarctica and told the ice there to grow pineapples, that’s exactly it would do.
‘I’m not cheating on you, Lil. You know who that was.’
‘Do I?’ Her voice was cool, but then he noticed the dimpled smile.
‘You’re a terrible tease.’
‘A tease like Georgette?’
‘Good god, no. She was clearly a right runaround in her youth. All those secrets kept are now coming out.’ And his torture was to be subjected to a regular dose by phone of her intimacies with various married men.