The Other Side of Dead

By Susan F Roberts

An eclectic array of short stories from a ghost who solves her own murder to a woman who finds the perfect relationship after she loses a shoe down a man hole cover. Other stories include an aging private investigator who gets over his head with helping people during an investigation of a crazy woman who was murdered. Another story is about a red dress that becomes a woman's salvation from a life of pain and suffering.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Susan F Roberts
• Release date: Mar 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301645824

Susan F Roberts

I grew up on the Rocky Mountain Front of Montana in an environment that was as ecologically drastic as the culture I found myself in. Mountains meeting prairie, Native American culture meeting white European. My father was a dyed-in-the wool cowboy and my mother a sweet young thing who didn't have a clue about which end of a horse to get on. I was conceived in the Great Bear Wilderness area the summer my mother was eighteen. She always said I was a Native spirit looking for a home.

Book preview

The Other Side of Dead

Short Stories

Published by S.F. Roberts at Smashwords

Copyright 2013 S.F. Roberts

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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

Table of Contents

A Little Peace and Quiet

A hike on a mountain trail on a lovely fall day creates a conundrum for a young mother when she finds a white box under a rock.

An Ordinary Crazy

Jack Dempsey, an aging private investigator, finds himself involved in the lives of several people after the death of a crazy homeless woman in a local city park.

Another Person's Shoes

Delbert, a conservative opinionated man, wakes up in the body of a young girl and is confronted with the reality of his cultural attitudes.

Back Road to Jesus

A ride into the country side to visit an old friend of her boyfriend David ends up challenging a woman's belief system.

Esmeralda

Mia and Jim have a wonderful married life, when Jim makes a comment that takes Mia back in time to an experience and a name with consequences.

The Other Side of Dead

A young worker at a burger joint realizes she's been killed and sticks around to assist a police detective in figuring out who did it.

The Man Hole

A woman can't seem to find the right man for a relationship until she stumbles into the perfect man in a city park.

The Red Dress

A beautiful red dress bought on Jesse's eighteenth birthday charts the course of her life for years and ultimately becomes her salvation.

The String

Georgia's frustration over her daily life is turned into a bizarre journey after a visit to the local grocery store.

The Writer

Gorman, a published writer, is stuck in the doldrum of writers block until a late night phone call sends him in search of a woman that leads him back to the cause of his blockage.

The Gingerbread Man

Michael confronts issues in his life after his mother begs him to visit an old neighbor. His trip to the hospital takes him from hell and back.

A Little Peace & Quiet

It was the perfect Sunday for a little peace and quiet; Janet concluded looking up at the rock cliffs vaulting straight up from the canyon floor, the sun reflecting off the beige colored rock into the bright blue sky of fall. She turned to her husband George who was walking a few feet behind on the narrow trail. I’m glad we decided to take a walk today, she said. "This weather won’t hold much longer. George nodded and smiled in her direction, quickly turning his attention to his friend Fred who was trailing behind.

Their children run ahead, laughing and falling over rocks in the path. The trail inclined winding through groups of trees, most of which were pine with an occasional larch. Janet walked slowly sniffing the air and looking at the bright green moss growing near the ground across damp rocks. The trail followed the river and they walk the left bank for the time being, the children shouting on the trail ahead and their father scrambling ahead to find out what the noise was all about. Janet catches to them finding them in the middle of a snow ball fight. She hadn’t realized they were so high in altitude, and she takes a fist full of the snow in hand, it looks if it hadn’t melted from last winter. She doesn’t care for the chilly spot and walks on, the trail curving into a small ravine where the river widens into a pool of clear water. Everyone heads for the spot on the river, the children immediately engaged in a game of hopping from rock to rock. She finds a spot she likes and plops down on a flat rock near the shore line, a thin layer of ice being lapped against tiny rocks by the waters edge. Her husband is talking to his friend.

Momma, the youngest boy, Jason said coming beside her. I’m hungry, when are we going to eat?

We just had breakfast, She says smiling and shaking her head.

But Mom, Cliff, the oldest boy whines. I’m hungry too.

George intervenes. Boys, let’s get up the trail a little farther then we’ll stop for a snack. He looks over at his wife and winks.

As usual the boys ran ahead of the party, Janet meandering lost in the reverie of thoughts, their father and his friend behind them. She was glad for this day of relaxation and happy that the weather was holding so well this late in the fall. She stops on the trail and bends down rubbing her right heel. She tries adjusting her foot inside the shoe. It is her first hike in these new boots and they are rubbing on the back of her foot. George and Fred pass by deep in conversation. She sits down on a rock and removes the offending shoe examining the blister forming on the back of her foot. Remembering she’d put a small package of foot pads into her husband’s back pack she calls ahead, George, wait up.

Putting the shoe on unlaced she limps to catch up to the two men, finding them standing around a bunch of large boulders. Her husband and Fred are engrossed in a discussion regarding energy alternatives, and the boys are wild in a game of leap frog from boulder to boulder.

Jason, watch yourself, she yells as he crouches in preparation for a fool hardy jump.

I will, Momma.

She turns to the two men, George, I need those pads for my foot.

New shoes bothering you? It was only the second thing Fred has said to her all day.

George pulls the package of pads from his pack and digs around for his pocket knife with the little scissors attached to it. He hands everything to her. She already has the shoe off and while she is fixing a pad over the back of her heel the boys and men snacking on crackers and cheese, her husband handing her a piece of chocolate when she stands up finished. She takes it deciding to save it for the moment. The boys seeing her ready took off up the trail, Come on Mom, they yelled in unison.

She follows behind the men deep in some discussion about the political situation in South America. She labors over the steep path, filled with little rocks, the heel still raw but getting better. They boys don’t seem the least bothered by her slowness and she can hear them fighting not fifty feet ahead. She puts the piece of chocolate in her mouth pressing it against the roof of her mouth to savor the dark taste as it melted against the roof of her mouth. The trail comes around a bend and opens into a rock field. She can see that it winds along the side of the hill and stops to look across the way at the cliffs. They hang in the canyon, mammoth sheets of rock that towered high above the other side of the river, their sharp edges cutting into a portion of the blue sky. Her painter’s eyes gauging the pearl colored rocks below, the river bed speckled with orange and gold foliage that marks a colored belt at the waist of the cold steep faced cliffs. She hears the voices of George and Fred behind her and starts up walking again, her eyes catching on a flash of something white beneath a rock on the side of the trail. The rock is large and flat with an opening beneath it. She bends down then goes to her knees to look discovering a box, which she pulls out with little effort.

Look what I found. Janet said holding it up. George and Fred hurried to her side, and the boys were only seconds behind them, excited to see what she’d found.

It looks like trash, Cliff stated matter-of-factly.

What if it’s a treasure, Jason said his eyes lighting up.

She handed the box to George. It feels heavy.

They all gathered around George as he lifted the cover of the box. Inside was a liner and George read from it: Greenpack Mortuary, 2320 Byron Lane, Post Ida, Washington. This box contains the crematory remains of John Harebring.

They stood in silence as the fall wind came up lifting leaves off the ground and blowing them around in a tight circle. George shut the lid of the box and looked at his wife. Put it back under the rock, he said.

Momma, is that really someone in the box? Jason asked his little fist grabbing onto the edge of her jacket sleeve.

She bent down taking his hand in hers and looking into his questioning eyes. Yes, it is somebody, honey, but it is only what is left, the man is dead.

That means they burned him up after he was dead, Cliff said making his face into a wide grimace.

Yuk, Jason said taking off up the trail.

"Wonder why it was left here and