Uncle Eddie

By Frith Books

Not all ghosts are dead.

Grace doesn't understand why Mama always drags her to see her creepy Uncle Eddie. The victim of a horrific gunshot wound, Uncle Eddie is literally missing half of his brain. The devastating injury has left him near-catatonic, with only some basic motor functions and cognitive ability. His interaction with Grace is nothing more than mispronouncing her name and occasionally shedding a tear. So when Uncle Eddie gives her a cryptic warning seemingly out of the blue, she doesn't know what to think. When his words prove prophetic, Grace begins to wonder if maybe there's more going on behind her uncle's disturbing eyes than anyone sees.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Frith Books
• Release date: Feb 15, 2017

Frith Books

Frith Books publishes unusual, eclectic, and alternative titles. We offer fiction and poetry in print and ebook editions, with a strong commitment to quality and originality.

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Uncle Eddie by Robert Crow

Published by Frith Books © 2017 Robert Crow. All rights reserved.

www.frithbooks.com/authors/robert-crow

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events is purely coincidental.

Cover design by Anna Reith © Frith Books 2017

Original photography by Isai Ramos

https://unsplash.com/@isai21

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For my gorgeous wife, Lee, who doesn’t give me a hard time about all the horrible things I write, and for Nikki Nelson-Hicks, Mark Steinwachs, Kim Justice, Jadah McCoy, Will Madden, and all my other Nashville writers who actually encourage this sort of behavior.

Uncle Eddie

Robert Crow

Mama, Grace complained, squirming in her dingy booster seat, I don’t wanna go see Uncle Eddie.

You hush now, Grace. Your Uncle Eddie loves you, her mother said as she poked a gum wrapper out of the driver’s side window.

The peeling tint zebra-striped the outside world.

How do you know? He never says it.

I just know, honey. Now stop.

How come Daddy never comes to see Uncle Eddie?

Daddy and Uncle Eddie don’t really get along, baby.

No surprise there. Even at her young age, Grace wondered if Daddy ever got along with anybody. She kicked her heels against the booster seat.

Why not?

They just don’t. That’s enough now, okay?

Mama’s voice had taken on that cracked, squeaky tone it got when she was about to cry, so Grace let the matter drop.

She really didn’t like going to see Uncle Eddie. He creeped her out, and not in a fun way like the vampire shows Mama watched when she thought Grace was asleep on the couch. And it wasn’t just his head being half gone, neither. Not like his face and all—he still had two eyes and ears—but the top part, as if somebody’d cut a big hunk out of a watermelon. From the side it had the shape of a football with all the air let out of it. Mama said it was that way because somebody shot