Devil in the Doublewide: A Short Story

By Carl Vonderau

A short story from multi-award-winning crime thriller author, Carl Vonderau.

William is seven years old and lives in a doublewide trailer with his family --- a thirteen-year-old sister, his fundamentalist Christian Science mother, and a reclusive father who turns out to be a serial killer.

When his sister’ asthma threatens her life, William’s mother insists on healing her with religion. In the meantime, his father uses his daughter’s illness to manipulate them all.

Caught in his parents’ power struggles, William must find a way to save his sister’s life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Carl Vonderau
• Release date: Jan 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005884987

Carl Vonderau

Carl Vonderau writes domestic suspense and thrillers. His novel, MURDERABILIA, won the Lefty award in 2020 for Best Debut Novel, the San Diego Book award for Best Mystery, and the Kops-Fetherling Gold Phoenix award. He also has a short story in the CROSSING BORDERS anthology.A former banker, he worked in the U.S., Canada, Latin America, and North Africa. He now writes and helps nonprofits through Social Venture Partners.Carl lives with his wife in San Diego. His two grown sons are close by and wonder how he knows so much about serial killers and banking crimes.Visit carlvonderau.com

Book preview

Also by CARL VONDERAU

MURDERABILIA

(A Crime Thriller)

Author’s Note

You might wonder where this story came from.

When I was writing my thriller, MURDERABILIA, I thought about what it would be like to grow up in a very religious family in which the father was secretly a serial killer who took photos of his victims’ bodies. The story develops the narrator’s childhood.

Devil in the Doublewide shows how a young girl and boy suffer while their monstrous father plays power games with their fundamentalist mother. I grew up a Christian Scientist and used this as a basis for the religious component—although my mother was never devout like this, and my father wasn’t anything like a killer.

DEVIL in the DOUBLEWIDE

I WAS SEVEN YEARS OLD and we still lived in the Redman doublewide when my mother decided to heal my sister’s asthma. Mama had been leading up to it for months. Every morning she stood on a chair and took down the paper bag she’d hidden in the melamine cabinets above the sink. She’d pull out the asthma medicine bottle and, as she gave Polly a spoonful, say, There’s a reason this stuff tastes so awful. Then she’d hold up the bottle to me and say, "We’re not going to mention this false belief to anyone at