Playground of a Lesser God

By Nancy SM Waldman

Alone in her abandoned neighborhood on Halloween night, 10-year-old Elena is surrounded by ghost memories of her past. On the ruined playground where she used to go with her little sister, she solves a puzzle, uncovers a unique invention and is given the gift of hope for her future—but not before experiencing the scariest night of her life.

Set on the Gulf Coast of Texas in 1959, Elena's story is historical science fiction—an atypical Halloween tale that rides the waves of the fantastic while always staying close to shore.

• Language: English
• Publisher: By and By Press
• Release date: Oct 26, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386837046

Nancy SM Waldman

Nancy SM Waldman grew up in Texas but now lives in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia with her husband Barry where she writes from the calm solidity of a house built in 1900 with views of the woods and just enough wildlife to keep things interesting. She has an outpost across the Butterfly Bridge from her beloved sister in the mountains of western North Carolina.

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Playground of a Lesser God

a short story

by

Nancy SM Waldman

Copyright © Nancy SM Waldman 2018

First published in 2018

Cover Artwork © Nancy SM Waldman 2018

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior written permission from the author.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination with the exception of references to the inventor Elie Aghnides [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elie_Aghnides].

For the rest, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, entities or settings, in unintentional, coincidental, or used for the purposes of fiction.

Waldman, Nancy SM, 1949-, author

Playground of a Lesser God / Nancy SM Waldman

By and By Press, 2018

Email: [e-mail]

Web: www.nancysmwaldman.com

Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada

Dedication

To my siblings, who were there

Playground of a Lesser God

October 31, 1959. I arrived, winded. I was ten.

The playground Leticia and I used to play on waited in twilight, quiet, a full square block with no trees. I'd run all the way from my father's bakery where he was spending the night.

Mama had asked me to take him his dinner.

Teenagers vandalized some of the shops last Halloween, so he's not taking any chances, she said.

I dreaded the idea of going out, of seeing all the kids in their costumes, but Mama had one of her sick headaches. She would be in bed all night, that is, when she wasn’t throwing up in the bathroom.

Sure, I said. Could I maybe...stay with Papa for a while?

"It's okay