Ghost Girl and the Amazing Wind-up Dream Box: Collected Stories

By Brian S. Parrish

Topsy-turvy may be the new normal, but that doesn't mean there's nothing left to celebrate. Join Ghost Girl, your humble host, for a collection of eleven short homespun stories in the fairy tradition of mischief and wayfaring, as she weaves together a world of unexpected serendipity and transformation for all her new friends (and family just met), brought to you courtesy of the amazing wind-up dream box.

These short yarns are the perfect escape to return home to, so kick off your slippers, turn up the yule log and call dibs on your favorite overstuffed chair before the popcorn runs out. (Warning: Popper and popcorn not included. Slippers not available in all areas, especially if dogs. Log may require some disassembly prior to use. Stuffy chair use can be habit forming.)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brian S. Parrish
• Release date: Sep 8, 2020
• ISBN: 9780985995928

Brian S. Parrish

Author Brian Parrish is an awed believer in the power of story and a regular patron of the dreaming. However, he's best known as a virtual stunt pilot, human cannonball coach, Indianapolis slot car racer and tender tiger tamer—in a parallel universe, that is, where his Elkhart Blue 1967 Chevrolet Camaro RS has been impounded for extraordinary parking fee accumulation. In this one, he scribbles the odd story and subscribes to the International Psychic Cat Network. He lives in the rolling red hills of Virginia with an ambling caravan of family, friends and familiars.

Book preview

Ghost Girl and the Amazing Wind-up Dream Box

Collected Stories

Brian S. Parrish

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2020 by Brian Scott Parrish. All Rights Reserved.

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ISBN 978-0-9859959-2-8

for Jessica

Contents

Ghost Girl and the Topsy-turvy Four Poster Canopy Bed

Rhyme & Reason

Ghost Girl and the Amazing Wind-up Dream Box

The Train Wreckers

Ghost Girl and the Unseemly Steam Carriage Adventure

The Astronaut’s Wife

Ghost Girl and the Hissy Dusty Ballroom Disaster

Periods of His Lispses

One Good Urn

The Booger Man

The Sulky Silkie

About the Author

Other Books by Brian Parrish

Ghost Girl and the Topsy-turvy Four Poster Canopy Bed

Once upon a dreamy-soft bed of wonder, there lived a young girl with the most shocking red hair. Truly, her tresses seemed to have a will of their own, and they would allow no comb or brush to plumb their mysterious depths. It was also her strong preference, as a rule, to sleep through half-the-day, balanced by staying up nearly half-the-nights–accompanied, of course, by her trusted feline familiar, Spirit.

Throughout her room and on her bed, plates, teacups and saucers laid scattered about. Stacks and piles of books, crudely divided into rough columns according to categories known only to her, created a complicated maze designed to deter any thoroughly misguided attempts at tidying. Her bed-window was fortunately located near the stout branches of a particularly good climbing tree, which was Spirit’s favorite – as well as her own, on spectacularly moonlit nights.

As it was still before breakfast, and she had yet to inform her parents of her name-for-the-day, it is just as well to leave you in temporary suspense. Suffice it to say, if her Father or Mother had not learnt it or misspoke of another name after the Great Pendulum Clock had struck twelve bells in the hall, there would be more than a few choice words spoken.

The real trouble was that on that very day, by the time the Great Pendulum Clock struck a particular hour, everything would be different. It was just a matter of time. Ticks and tocks, and the soft swish of the Great Pendulum, always back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

Breakfast on that particular morning was composed of flaky biscuits, raspberry jam, sliced unpeeled apples, and a pot of hot blackberry tea. Her father had already eaten and cleared his dishes by the time she arrived. As per usual, his countenance was obscured by a freshly inked page of newsprint, which also provided dark contrasts to his hands, forearms, and perhaps most prominently, the shiny top of his head.

And how are you this morning, dear, asked her father, good-naturedly.

"My name is…Ariel, that’s A-R-I-E-L. And Father, I