An Alien in the Arboretum

By Bruce Allsman

An Alien in the Arboretum, a paranormal thriller by Bruce Allsman

 

For the sake of his wife and daughter, Tom Gardner, a phytologist, moves with his family from the countryside to the city. In the city, he works in a shop that sells bonsai trees, and he also maintains the rooftop garden of his apartment building. The shop's owner is Saito-san, an old Japanese man from Okinawa. A few weeks before Saito-san's death, Tom receives a special gift from his employer, a bonsai tree. Following Saito-san's demise, Tom visits Okinawa to deliver the old man's ashes to his ancestral shrine. While away, a bomb blast at the shop kills his wife and daughter. Unable to cope with his grief, Tom wallows in a state of depression until one day his bonsai tree begins to exhibit something strange. It reveals to him a clue to the bomber's identity. With the help of his neighbor, Diane Goldman, an investigative journalist for a local newspaper and a friend of his teenage daughter, Tom begins to unravel the identity of the bomber.

 

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bruce Yeoh
• Release date: May 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201696573

Book preview

An Alien in the Arboretum

Bruce Allsman

All of the characters in this book

are fictitious, and any resemblance

to actual persons, living or dead,

is purely coincidental.

An Alien in the Arboretum

Copyright © 2020, 2021 by Bruce Allsman

All Rights Reserved

Published by Bruce Yeoh

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Table of Contents

An Alien in the Arboretum

About the Author

Books by Bruce Allsman

An Alien in the Arboretum

TOM GARDNER SLUMPED onto the couch in the living room, gazing out the balcony, at dark fat clouds clustering in the gray sky. Like a balm, the waning late afternoon sunlight poured into the room to soothe him. Spring was his favorite time of year but not anymore, after what had happened.

Since the double funeral over a week ago, he had remained indoors in his apartment, refusing to see anyone or answer any phone calls. There would be none anyway because he has no friends here in this vulgar city, he had thought. However, friends of his late wife and daughter did call, but he couldn't care about them although he felt they meant well, wanting to comfort him for his tragic loss.

Now without his family, he realized he didn't belong in the city. He had been away for too long from all the plants he loved. Although he tended the tiny arboretum on the rooftop, it wasn't the same as his vast orchard in the countryside.

Several loud rapid