Magical Realism: Gray Matter: Magical Realism, #6

By M. Benjamin Naves

Magical Realism: Gray Matter

The sixth in a series containing two shorts stories (The Gravedigger's Nephew (Part 1 & 2)).  They both pack a punch and are short and sweet and to the point.

(The Gravedigger's Nephew (Part 1 & 2)) Gravedigging is hard work...Especially when you deal with ancient gods...

• Language: English
• Publisher: American Gothic
• Release date: Jun 19, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201806361

Book preview

Short Stories

by

M. Benjamin Naves

THE GRAVEDIGGER’S Nephew

or (Waiting For Ragnarok)

Humans: For all their pretensions to intellectual and spiritual culture and for all their moments of bravery, altruism and generosity are nevertheless animals ruled by appetites and impulses that make them equally capable of cowardice, selfishness, and cruelty.

- Scott Leonard & Michael McClure, 2004.

I.

I grow tired, little brother.

I think the correct word you’re looking for isn’t tired—what you mean to say is... bored. This current existence is rather dull, isn’t it, Wolfie?

Right again, Harald... replied Wolfie. Very much so...Very much so...

On a calm winter’s night, overlooking the town of Grimwood, Long Island, stood the likes of a raven and a coyote...

Grimwood County, New York.

December 1893.

Say now, what are you doing?

Nothing, why do you ask?

Because, Harald said pointing with a large, silver-colored wing. Just look at you. If someone saw you—

Wolfie looked down and saw that he was standing on his hind legs, he actually (unknowingly), pacing back and forth across the dirt ground. He looked human-like in his stance and after a moment, snorted at the idea of someone seeing him in—well—in this way. It wasn’t like the old days where creatures and animals of all kinds did these sorts of things, let alone talk in proper English and conversed with one another. Times had indeed changed, and Wolfie didn't necessarily think it was for the better. Honestly, there was nothing he could do about it—expect. Wolfie’s conniving mind then began to stir.

Never mind, he thought. Better, not upset, little Harald, he’s sensitive, you know.

Awe pish-posh, Harald, no one is going to see anything, Wolfie replied. Most people in this town are blithering drunks anyways... They would think of me as an apparition or a hallucination of sorts when it comes to their bourbon and whiskey. It might as well be Friday night in all the taverns in jolly old England...

And what do you know about England, Wolfie? You’ve never been there..., said the