The Snakeskin Boots

By Julie Day

Paula Anderson is a selfish and nasty bully at work. Everyone avoids her so not to get the sharp end of her tongue, and that includes the new man at work, Gareth Farlow, whom she fancies. Until her mum treats her to a pair of snakeskin boots. When Paula tries on the boots, she is unaware that she has set a chain of weird events in motion, and ones that include her changing to a better person. When she goes to speak nastily to her colleagues, she starts coughing and no one comes to her aide. The pattern on the boots appear like snakes, just as her colleague seems to take on a predatory stance to Gareth. On the way home through the park, the trees sway with a mysterious breeze, although when Paula meets other residents of the village, they are dry. The village 'Welcome' sign also starts fading and changing. The next day, the trees are still swaying around her, but not around the other residents. At work, when Paula tells off another colleague, she starts to realise how horrible she can be, and is rewarded by Gareth smiling at her. Then Paula sees a woman in the park that looks like her. What is going on? On the third day, Paula hears her co-boss speak sharply to her other co-boss when she tries the boots on, and comes to the conclusion that it is all down to the boots. Then she hears someone else speak rudely to her mum in the shoe shop, and realises what is happening. She has been shown what she is like to other people. The sun starts to shine over Paula, and the birds sing cheerily at her. Talking to her mother, Paula finds out that the woman was the ghost of an ancestor, who has been telling her she is doing well with her attitude to others. The 'Welcome' sign has now changed so that it starts with a D instead of an S. Paula decides to be a nicer person, and gets to go on a date with Gareth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Julie Day
• Release date: Nov 16, 2013
• ISBN: 9781310796685

Julie Day

I live in SE London. I am an indie author writing magical realism for both adults and children, and helpful ghost stories for adults. My children's books have the tagline 'autism meets magical realism'. I write fillers for magazines.

Book preview

The Snakeskin Boots

By Julie Day

The Secrets of Singleton – Book 1

Published by Julie Day at Smashwords

Copyright 2013 Julie Day

Cover image courtesy of of Silberkorn, istock.com, fisfra & canstockphoto

Cover by Joleene Naylor

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Could you get that, please, Paula, Fiona Anderson called out from the hallway. I'm must putting my coat on.

Do I have to, Mum? Paula muttered, getting up from the kitchen table. She walked to the phone, toast in hand.

A minute later, she shouted, It's for you.

Who is it?

Bertha Billings.

Could you take a message for me?

Paula jotted down the message, and returned to the table to finish her breakfast.

Her mother appeared then. What did Bertha want?

She said, could you take the minutes for the meeting as Caroline has had to go to a charity event?

I have a better idea. How about you do the minutes? I have something I want to discuss with Bertha.

It's my day off.

It'll just be for today. And it'll help us out. Please, Paula.

Okay, all right, then.

Thanks. Bertha's an early bird, so as soon as you're ready, we'll go.

Inside the hall, Fiona said to the group standing in the centre, Paula's agreed to take the minutes for us today.

Good, Bertha Billings said. Now you're here, we can start.

The eldest in the village, Bertha had lived there longer than anyone else, therefore she'd appointed herself as the chairperson.

There are a few minor points to mention, and one major one, which we'll leave to last. Item one is the rubbish on the streets. We need to do something about that.

I'll look into it, Ted Cooke, who owned the park cafe, said. I'll speak to the park manager.

Thanks, Ted. Next is the forthcoming village fete. We need to take part and have a stall again. Are you all willing to be involved?

There was a chorus of yeses.

"That leads me