Short Stuff

By Lyndee Roberts

Short Stuff features a bit of humor, crime, mystery, the paranormal, and science fiction in this collection of a baker's dozen (12+1 short stories. Meet Midnight, a cat who brings a killer to justice. Visit a bar on Mars and listen to a tall tale of a man claiming to be 328 years old! Laugh at the antics of a jewel thief, and walk beside a pond with a man and his yellow lab. Try to figure out which of the bus riders attacked a middle-aged gone-back-to-college female student. Join the spectators at the running of the bulls. Shudder with an old man when a ghost ship comes for him. And yes, people are dying to get into Central County Mortuary Services.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lyndee Roberts
• Release date: Dec 2, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301422838

Lyndee Roberts

As a journalism major, Lyndee Roberts consistently won top awards at both the local and state level. She followed that up by devoting the past twenty years to helping authors prepare their manuscripts for publication. To-date, over thirty have made it into print, from simple little booklets, on which she did the design and layout, to hard cover and paperback books, including 'Chicken Soup for the Soul,' as well as a Military Book Club of the Month selection. Along the way, she managed to do some writing of her own. Besides helping her clients with their writing projects, she is working on a romance novel for spring 2013 publication, to be followed by the first in a series featuring a disabled veteran, his stepsisters and zany stepmother. They operate an auto towing/storage/repo service. And no auto storage yard is complete without a junkyard dog and this one has three who manage to get into all kinds of mischief. And oh, the things one finds in repossessed autos! Lyndee lives in Southern California with her niece, two dogs, and two cats. You will find pets featured in many of her stories.

Book preview

Short Stuff

By

Lyndee Roberts

Short Stuff

Copyright 2012 by Lyndee Roberts

Published by Lyndee Roberts on Smashwords

This ebook is licensed for your enjoyment only. It may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialog are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Adult Reading Material

A big thank you to Debbie and Kim for catching my typos and making some great suggestions.

Table of Contents

Ashes to Ashes

Betrayed

Brigantine

Bus Riders

Deadly Bore

Double Cross

Everlasting

Kleptomaniac

Midnight Revenge

RunningWithTheBulls

Second Chance

The Pond

Where Antelope Play

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INTRODUCTION

There is a baker’s dozen short stories in this ebook. Some of them you may like more than others. That’s okay. Although I like them all, there are some that are my favorites. No, I’m not telling you which ones. Choose your own favorites!

There are several involving mystery or crime; a bit of humor here and there; even a science fiction story that could actually happen someday.

Personally, I enjoy a book of short stories occasionally, especially if there’s a doctor or dentist appointment on my agenda, or a long line at the bank. Taking something to read has proven to be the antidote to frustration at having to wait and otherwise waste time. I invite you to try it.

Since this ebook is free, you have nothing to lose by downloading it. I hope you enjoy the stories and would love to hear from you. Contact information is at the end of the book.

Read on!

Lyndee Roberts

back to contents

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Ashes to Ashes

A simple act of charity prodded Homer Eckertt into action. Meadow Lea Gardens generously donated several crypts for the interment of unclaimed ashes currently held by Central Counties Mortuary Services, usually referred to as CCMS.

Homer began implementing his plan, confident the neighbors would think nothing of seeing the utility van at his home; he often checked on his dear mother. They often commented that he was such a good and thoughtful son, always seeing to Ruby Eckert’s every need or whim.

And there were many ‒ a never-ending stream of demands, all uttered in strident tones.

Homer, get me some more ice cream.

Homer, bring me that box of chocolate creams.

Hooo-mer! Hurry up, Homer. What in the world is keeping you? I asked for a cup of hot chocolate five minutes ago. And don’t forget the whipped cream again.

Ruby filled her days and nights snacking, watching television, and napping in her lounge chair, too obese to get to her bed.

Small thanks I get, she frequently whined. What I suffered bringing you into this world and how do you show your gratitude? Can’t even do a simple thing like get me a glass of cola. And open the window, Homer, I’m burning up.

Oh, how he wished she would burn up! Did he have a life of his own? No, it centered around Ruby Eckert and her incessant demands. What chance did he have of pursuing a relationship with that attractive clerk in the hospital morgue who openly flirted with him?

Homer had agreed to work the weekend alone so Stanley and the rest of the employees could fly to Las Vegas for the convention of the International Funeral Directors’ Association. Next fall, Homer would get his turn when the convention moved to Hawaii. He didn’t mind a bit working forty-eight hours straight. It served his purpose very well to have the building all to himself.

At one o’clock Saturday morning, Homer answered a call to Shepherd of Mercy Hospital to pick up a deceased male. Leaving the hospital morgue, he turned left toward home.

He had remembered to bring the garage door opener with him and thumbed the button as he approached the house. The pale flicker of the television set glowed around the edges of the living room window drapes. He drove into the garage and clicked the door closed.

Climbing from the vehicle, Homer clicked across the cement floor in his hand-tooled cowboy boots. He always wore them for the added height they afforded his slender, five-foot, six-inches.

He entered the kitchen, met by the sickening odor of vomit. The smell grew stronger as he moved toward the living room, pausing in the doorway. Ruby sat slumped in the lounger, head lolling to one side, tongue protruding between bluish lips. He tried to block out the stench of death as his fingers searched for the absent pulse. The extra dosage of digitalis had done its work effectively.

He hurried to the utility wagon and pulled out a second gurney, wheeling it into the house and positioning it beside the ‘deceased.’ Homer broke into a sweat as he struggled to slide more than three-hundred pounds of inert flesh onto the gurney. Heaving and gasping, he finally managed it, wheeled the remains of Ruby Eckert into the garage, and maneuvered the gurney into the van.

Back at CCMS, Homer drove inside the building and closed the automatic door behind him. The Shepherd of Mercy cadaver went into the embalming room; Ruby’s gurney stopped before the crematorium.

It took considerable effort to push and tug his mother into a cardboard container specifically designed to hold the remains so the body lift could raise and propel it into the crematorium. Trembling from the exertion, Homer hit the conveyer switch and Ruby started on her last journey. He slammed the door shut and latched it. Almost there. Only a little while to go before the flames reduced his nemesis to ashes.

Homer moved to the controls, turned on the gas and set the temperature at 2,500 degrees. The flames ignited with a roar and he turned away, clicking across the concrete toward the embalming room. Laying out the trocar, needles, sutures, and fluids to prepare the corpse would keep his mind occupied.

By five o’clock, Homer had finished embalming the man’s body. The crematorium popped occasionally as it cooled down. It would take better than two hours to cycle, an additional hour before he could open the door. He pushed aside his continuing exhaustion and descended to the basement. Gathering up several of the cardboard containers housing all that remained of John and Jane Does, as well as those of some who had not been claimed by their families, he placed them on a cart and wheeled it into the elevator. Upstairs, Homer aligned the boxes on a work table and began opening each one. Adding a few ounces of ashes to the couple of pounds already in the containers would never be detected.

Homer opened the crematorium door when the cool-down