Month: May 2021

Excerpt:

Billy said, “It is an investment in the flower shop that he is helping mom plan. It is not like we can take the money and go to Las Vegas.” Billy thought a second. “Can we?”

Maureen said, “No. We can not. Or Disney. Or buy new furniture. Or buy nice jewelry. Or eat at fancy restaurants. We have to put it in that damn flower shop that I am having second thoughts about.”

Bess said, “To meet the public, you are going to need some new clothes. And if I am going to work in your flower shop after school then I am going to need some new clothes.”

Maureen looked at Billy. “I think we need to stay away from Victor.”

 

Hearthville Serial: Book 7

Episode 8

Any Truth, Proper Grammar, or Correct Spelling is totally coincidental if not accidental.
All characters are fiction. This story is fiction. This story makes no claims about any real person.

By Charles Peters

Copyright 2021

All Rights Reserved
Chapters / Episodes

The sun rose and Maureen looked to her window and her open curtains. The sun shinned all so brightly through the window and on her bed; her face.

Maureen sat up. “Such weird dreams and I feel so tired. I hope I am not coming down with something.”

Maureen threw back her covers and sat up, moving her legs to dangle off the bed. She stared at her naked feet. “I seriously need a pedicure.”

She looked to the mirror on her dresser and saw her own reflection. “Oh, my God. I look so awful.”

Maureen stood and slid on her bunny slippers. She put on her housecoat. She exited her bedroom to see Billy and Bess seated at the bar between the living room and the kitchen. “What are you eating?”

Bess said, “Raisin Brand. We are about out of milk.”

Maureen looked at Billy.

“Same.” Billy pulled the check out of his pants pocket. He held it out to his mom.

She walked over and took the check. She looked at it and the amount that Victor had made the check out for, “Victor coming here was not a dream. His giving me this check was not a dream.”

Billy smiled. “No. It was real. I am not sure about the part where you told the lost souls to tickle me.”

Maureen thought a second. “That had to be a dream.”

“We both dreamed it?”

Maureen said, “Am I still dreaming?”

Bess said, “No. I am pretty sure we are all awake and I have to get to school to take some test. For some reason they have to be done in person. They will not just let me take the test on the computer.”

Billy said, “I always cheat when I can take them on the computer. Except when I hate Google, I love Google.”

Bess said, “Please. You don’t have to cheat. I heard mom going over the material with you the other night. You could even tell her the page number of where the answer could be found when you answered the question.”

“My brain is weird. Sometimes it is on and sometimes it is off.”

Bess nodded. She started to suggest that maybe he would not have that problem if he did not drink but she looked at her mom. She guessed she would not say that.

Maureen continued to stare at the check. “Should I rip the check up? Victor is nice but he is… I don’t know. He came here so late and the things I heard in that dream.”

Bess took the check from her mom and looked at it. “Oh my God. My God. My God. He gave you $500,000.”

Billy said, “It is an investment in the flower shop that he is helping mom plan. It is not like we can take the money and go to Las Vegas.” Billy thought a second. “Can we?”

Maureen said, “No. We can not. Or Disney. Or buy new furniture. Or buy nice jewelry. Or eat at fancy restaurants. We have to put it in that damn flower shop that I am having second thoughts about.”

Bess said, “To meet the public, you are going to need some new clothes. And if I am going to work in your flower shop after school then I am going to need some new clothes.”

Maureen looked at Billy. “I think we need to stay away from Victor.”

Bess asked, “Because of a dream?”

Billy said, “It was more than a dream. Mom knows it was more than a dream. Victor’s brother is Jesus.”

Bess stared at Billy. “You do not want to take Victor’s $500,000 because you are a bigot against Mexicans?”

Billy said, “No. In a past life Victor’s brother was the Jesus that we worship. He is a spawn from Amelia, God, herself.”

Continue reading Hearthville Serial: Book 7 – Episode 8

Excerpt: Bess watched her brother staggering toward his bedroom, like he was walking on a boat that was being rocked by waves. “You were not staggering earlier. You must be putting me on. But I do know your breath smelled.” Bess looked at the door to her mom’s bedroom. Bess guessed she would keep Billy’s secret but his drinking worried her. Bess walked to the kitchen to get some water. She felt uneasy. Scared. She guessed that Billy talking about his dream had spooked her. “Lost souls in a drive-in? Strange.”

 

Hearthville Serial: Book 7

Episode 7

Any Truth, Proper Grammar, or Correct Spelling is totally coincidental if not accidental.
All characters are fiction. This story is fiction. This story makes no claims about any real person.

By Charles Peters

Copyright 2021

All Rights Reserved
Chapters / Episodes

The two lost souls began touching Billy.

Billy screamed in a giggly, ticklish, manner. “Stop. What are you doing?”

A female voice came from somewhere but seemingly nowhere. “I told you he is ticklish.”

They stopped tickling Billy.

Donny Maxtone said, “Lost souls who are playful. That is kind of odd. And who was that talking to them.”

Billy said, “That was my mom’s voice.”

Suddenly, Billy vanished from the sight of Victor and Donny.

Billy woke up in his bed. “What the hell? I guess I was dreaming. I need some water.”

Billy crawled out of bed. He knew besides the strange dream, something did not feel right. But what? He opened the door from his bedroom. He walked toward the living room. And there he saw his mother. Her arms were strangely, straightly, out in front of her and in her fist she was holding a large, sharp, dangerous, knife.

Continue reading Hearthville Serial: Book 7 Episode 7

Excerpt:

Billy shook his head. “Why do people who know that Iapetus spawned me think that I tell him everything or that he knows everything?”

Victor nodded. “I wish I were more connected with Amelia. I wish there were a way that I could wake her from her sleep but then maybe I can not even wake myself from my sleep.”

 

Hearthville Serial: Book 7

Episode 6

Any Truth, Proper Grammar, or Correct Spelling is totally coincidental if not accidental.
All characters are fiction. This story is fiction. This story makes no claims about any real person.

By Charles Peters

Copyright 2021

All Rights Reserved
Chapters / Episodes

Victor looked at the two lost souls sitting with Billy. His gaze then turned back to the foggy car window. He could see there was a face of someone right at the window. He could not clearly see who. They tapped on the window again. Victor used his bare hand to wipe more fog from the window. As the face became clearer Victor could see that the face was that of Donny Maxtone.

Next to Jossette, Donny had been Victor’s best friend. He’d had other friends and he had Stewart, but Donny was different in that from the first moment Donny and Victor had met at the basketball court Donny had known that Victor was a supernatural creature; not quite human, not quite a witch, and not quite a monster. Victor was different and Donny knew it. And Donny was different.

And after Victor had died in the boot of the car and Arthur Ramsey had found Victor, it was Donny who had led the revolt against the Witches Council. Donny knew about a gypsy artifact that could be used with a portal to travel back in time. Arthur and a coven had brought Victor back from the dead which was an act not allowed by the Witches Council. Hunters had been sent to undo what the coven had done and send Victor back to the world of the dead. But Donny figured that if Victor and he traveled back in time to save Victor from the boot of the car then the dead Victor would join with the rescued Victor, and technically no law would had been broken. With the right magic, even the memory of the Witches Council could be changed. Donny figured that time travel was the right magic. Donny hoped that once time had been changed, then the Witches Council would not know what they had done.

Victor rolled down the window. He looked into the face of Donny Maxtone. He reached his hand to touch the face of Donny Maxtone. Victor’s voice trembled, “Am I dead?”

Donny whispered, “You sent Belial to hell.”

“It was just a dream. Maybe this is just a dream. But is it my corpse that is dreaming?”

Donny said, “You sent Belial to hell. That was not a dream. It was real. This is real. But I don’t understand it. I don’t know why you are here.”

“How could I send Belial to hell? That is not possible.”

“I don’t know how you did it, but you did it.”

“Amelia?”

Donny shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything for sure. I don’t know what you are doing on this side.”

“I think I am dead.”

“I don’t think you and Billy are dead.”

“Maybe not. Maybe this is just another dream and perhaps I am not a corpse somewhere rotting as I have this dream, but rather I am laying comfortably in bed. And I will wake to a normal life. That is all I ever really wanted, you know, a normal life. But anyways, even if this is just a dream, that you are here, that makes it a wonderful dream.”

Donny smiled at Victor. “If but this were a dream and I could wake and be with my Lilly.”

“And I could be with my Jossette.”

Billy listened to music on the radio. “So why are you dreaming about the Smiths singing, ‘The Charming Man.'”

Donny Maxtone looked at Billy. “You know the music?”

“My mom likes them.”

Victor said, “Maybe this is not my dream. Maybe it is her dream. Maybe it is your mother who is dreaming.”

Billy looks at the two lost souls who are sitting on each side of him. “She has some pretty fucked up dreams. That is true. She has told me about some of them. But I fear this is not a dream. I will be honest. I am kind of scared right now.”

Donny said, “There is no reason to be scared of the lost souls. I wish I knew how to help them.”

Victor said, “Yeah. And Amelia. If only we could help her.”

Donny asked, “What do you remember about Amelia?”

Victor said, “In my dreams. They are just dreams. But I picture us sitting at that big table. And there she is. So beautiful. So powerful. And when I look at Amelia I know, she created all of this and for that I am more than amazed.”

Donny said, “And she became a prisoner of her own prison. How in the hell did she allow that to happen?”

Victor said, “I think I may know the story from a dream, but I can’t remember all of my dreams. In one of my dreams that I do remember, I remember how she gave us my brother Jesus to save us from this prison. And in the dream I wonder where is my brother. Has my brother also fallen into the sleep?”

“I don’t know.”

“In my dream there are Space Alien witches. They think they are superior. They think they know everything but they don’t have a clue that they are prisoners just like we are. They are prisoners of this system that Amelia created. They think they are writing the rules but they don’t even know the rules.”

Donny asked Victor, “And you do?”

“I don’t know. It is just a dream. It cannot be real.”

Billy repeated Victor’s words, “They are prisoners of this system that Amelia created.” Billy asked, “Does Iapetus know who Amelia is?”

Donny said, “Since you now know, I guess he will know soon enough.”

Billy shook his head. “Why do people who know that Iapetus spawned me think that I tell him everything or that he knows everything?”

Victor nodded. “I wish I were more connected with Amelia. I wish there were a way that I could wake her from her sleep but then maybe I can not even wake myself from my sleep.”

 

 

 

 

Excerpt:

“Are my dreams and my nightmares that of a living person?  Do I still have a life that I might lose? Or are my dreams that of a corpse rotting in the ground? Or rotting in the boot of a car, if I was never saved: brought back to life?  Am I dead?”

Hearthville Serial: Book 7

Episode 5

Any Truth, Proper Grammar, or Correct Spelling is totally coincidental if not accidental.
All characters are fiction. This story is fiction. This story makes no claims about any real person.

By Charles Peters

Copyright 2021

All Rights Reserved
Chapters / Episodes

Victor looked toward the backseat at Billy. He laughed, “Not my honey. You are a character. Aren’t you?”

“Whatever.”

“I understand your being nervous. I am nervous. This is all so weird. How in the hell did we get here?”

“My current theory is that you kidnapped me and are planning to blood sacrifice me in some damn jewish magical ceremony.”

“I am not jewish. And don’t be saying such shit. The ADL will start stalking you all over the internet until they have you banned all over the damn place.”

“I hate the internet. If I had my way, it would be banned.”

“Yeah. And I think they should dig up all the asphalt roads and we should start back using horses to travel.”

“I know. Right. And stop shooting up rockets, you know, spacecraft, and pretending like they are going to the moon or mars. That is just stupid. Who the fuck knows what they are really doing with all that money.”

“Do we really believe what we are saying?”

Continue reading Hearthville Serial: Book 7 Episode 5

Excerpt:

Victor clutched the steering wheel. He banged his head against the steering where. “What kind of mental break down I am now having? How did I go from the red light to this dirt road in some town called Whitehead and Bare Town?” Victor gritted his teeth as he hit the gas hard. Victor stared down at his own expensive brown shoe flooring the gas pedal. Then he looked up at the speeding dirt, rocky, road in front of him. As he started to lose control of the mustang, he let up on the gas some. He looked at the speedometer. He was going 100 mile per hour. He slowed down more. And more. And more.

 

Hearthville Serial: Book 7

Episode 4

Any Truth, Proper Grammar, or Correct Spelling is totally coincidental if not accidental.
All characters are fiction. This story is fiction. This story makes no claims about any real person.

By Charles Peters

Copyright 2021

All Rights Reserved
Chapters / Episodes

Victor pulled out of the parking lot. He smiled at the sight of a man and a woman who stood beneath a street light. The sexy couple were kissing. He pulled up to a red light that was red. He stopped. The light turned green. Then he started under the light and his car vanished.

HIS FUCKING CAR VANISHED!!!

I say vanished because the sexy couple saw Victor’s car vanish. The tired, overworked, lady puffing on a cigar who had just drove her SUV up behind Victor’s mustang, saw the mustang vanish. But Victor. There was no shock on his face from the magic act. He just kept driving for at first the road looked the same. Then Victor saw that the road had changed. It was suddenly a dirt road with empty fields on both sides of the narrow, rough, rocky road. I say empty because the fields had no buildings on them. But there was tall grass. There were flowers. There was a baby deer with his mom.

“Oh that baby deer is so cute.” Victor totally sounded like a girl talking to himself.

THEN SHOCK.

“What the fuck has happened?” Victor saw a sign and he slammed on brakes and skid to a stop. There was definitely rubber burnt. Victor stared at the sign. The white sign lettered in dripping red paint read, “Whitehead and Bare Town.”

Continue reading Hearthville Serial: Book 7 – Episode 4

Hearthville Serial: Book 7

Episode 3

Any Truth, Proper Grammar, or Correct Spelling is totally coincidental if not accidental.
All characters are fiction. This story is fiction. This story makes no claims about any real person.

By Charles Peters

Copyright 2021

All Rights Reserved
Chapters / Episodes

Victor Duddley had his checkbook pressed up against the front door to the Bingo home. He finished writing the check and then tore the check from the checkbook. He put the checkbook away. “Mrs. Bingo, Maureen, I am Victor Duddley.”

“Victor. I don’t mean to be rude but it is kind of late.”

“I know. But I was looking at the building you had suggested for a flower shop. I will finance you at that location but I think I have found a better location. I found an entire shopping center that is for sale. There are several people I would like to set up in business and the shopping center seems perfect. I also have some inside information that more traffic will be coming to that area.”

Continue reading Hearthville Serial: Book 7 – Episode 3