Distant Neighbors

By P.G. Henck

An old man makes good on his promise to tell his younger charges a ghost story in a deserted cemetery. But this whole western tale takes on a life of its own as they learn about the struggle by ghosts to save their town and way of death. Years ago the ghost town was divided up between the living and dead, and both sides got along pretty well, with no major ruckuses disturbing the peace. But now some of the living wanted the whole place to themselves, forcing the ghosts to fight back with any means they could find. And it’s not just their forever home that was at stake here. Their town had become the Las Vegas of the spirit world with millions of spirits visiting from heaven every day. While the town’s ghosts knew heaven wasn’t for them, they did enjoy providing a vacation destination to their spirit guests away from heaven’s many rules.

Join these western ghosts on their comic quest to rid the town of those living scallywags who only care about their own interest, and little about that of their distant neighbors. This tale, though, isn’t for the faint of heart, or the sensitive of nose. While the humans fend off the ghosts’ best haunts, they are no match for their best demon, Uncle Fred. And when a ghost story takes on a life of its own, who knows what will happen next.

• Language: English
• Publisher: P.G. Henck
• Release date: Sep 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9781951251413

P.G. Henck

About P.G. HenckP.G. Henck has written several science fiction and fantasy stories with more on the way. His first novel, ‘Beyond The Providers’, was self published in 2019 after many years in development. His next two novels, ‘Elementary Science 101’ and ‘Elementary Science 201’, entered the humorous side of science fiction, where many of his works now reside. The ‘Deep Space Rescue 911’ series has begun with two novellas, and may end with a novel in order to complete the whole story. The ‘Captain Mike’ series will eventually consist of three novellas, each with a different set of circumstances and characters, except for Captain Mike of course. Both series are comedies and follow P.G.’s favorite storyline of an unusual group of individuals making their way through space. The published short stories ‘Distant Neighbors’ and ‘Alien Vacation Invasion’ had parts inspired by real events, which P.G. thinks can be pretty funny in themselves at times. The next short story, ‘Bigfoot Dance Party’, relies on characters from ‘Elementary Science 201’. Being published in the fall of 2021 are the fantasy / science fiction novellas ‘Bring it Alien B’ and ‘Super Absorption’. Both go for the funny bone as well as presenting new interesting characters. Additional short stories and novellas are planned in the next few years along with another novel called Time Minds, which is expected to give readers a heavy dose of fictionalized history made possible through science fiction.P.G. Henck was born in Michigan, and lived in the Great Lakes region for a good part of his life with his wife, the girl next door. The couple then moved to southern Utah to experience the spectacular scenery and endless trails it provides. Though he spent most of his career as an accountant and financial administrator, P.G. Henck’s outside interest lay heavily in the sciences, space exploration, and history. Also a lover of science fiction and fantasy over the years, he has gone out of his way to see every movie and TV show available, both good and bad. His many other interests besides writing include hiking, travel, photography, and website development, along with designing and producing his own book covers.Please go to the author’s website at www.pghenck.com for more information and special deals on purchasing his books.

Book preview

Distant Neighbors

By P.G. Henck

Copyright 2020 P.G. Henck Publishing

First Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this book. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer. Thank you for your support.

To my one and only everything.

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 actual events is purely coincidental.

Table of Contents

Chapter One - Ruling the Zone

Chapter Two - Old Time Haunting

Chapter Three - Uncle Fred Moves In

Chapter Four - Loose Ends

About P.G. Henck

Beyond The Providers

Elementary Science 101

Elementary Science 201

Deep Space Rescue 911

Contact with P.G. Henck

Chapter One - Ruling the Zone

The western sun set on a small cemetery in the middle of nowhere, while darkness came running swiftly behind it. With the last minutes of daylight left, the hearty day creatures who called this dry desert home were still active. Birds reviewed the past day’s events with their friends and family, each apparently with a better story to tell than the ones next to it. Lizards scurried about, bobbing their heads as if trying to remember in vain the one last thing they had to do. Overhead, the few bees remaining started their straight steadfast journey to the safety of their hives. Unlike the many evenings before it, though, this time an old man could be seen approaching from the buildings and lights just visible over a distant ridge. He had promised the kids a scary ghost story a while back, and now he was stuck with what his big mouth had committed the rest to. To make matters even worse, each time he put that original promise off, it grew even larger until he was obligated to tell it here in the cemetery, where he’d rather not be when the sun went down.

The kids sat down in a crude circle of sorts, like they were around a campfire. But an open flame ban had been enacted to protect this parched land, leaving them only with lantern light to keep total darkness at bay.

O.K., I promised you kids a good ghost story, so I’m going to tell you one that’s never been told before, the old man said, with as much enthusiasm as this creepy place would allow him.

The kids all showed excitement and gleeful anticipation, but still snuggled in a little closer together even though the day’s heat was still warming the cemetery nicely.

Our story takes place in a ghost town, or at least that’s what they called it, the old man said with a smile. The mining boom town had its hey-day around 1880. They found silver there and the dream that every one of them would be rich before it ran out. When it comes to Mother Earth, though, she only has so much she can give to each one of her children. And she has so many children that she has to spread things out, and that’s what happened to them. The silver ran dry, and the town shriveled like a cactus flower after its short bloom. Finally, even those with the biggest dreams gave up and moved on to someplace where they could start dreaming again. They left their buildings, family that had died there, and memories behind, to be covered and forgotten in the desert dust. Soon the vultures had picked the place so clean that only a few buildings made of stone were left standing.

The old man then repositioned his butt on his small camp stool before he continued. He could tell from the kids’ expressions that his story had their interest. But if he didn’t start saucing things up soon, that wouldn’t last. "So that is the way it went for many ghost towns around the American West, lost and