image by Jacob Amson - unsplash.com
Graveyard Shift is an episodic supernatural comedy. This episode stands on its own, but if you would like to start at Episode 1, it is linked below.
Press play to listen to this audio performance!
Rain dripped from the brim of a girl’s umbrella as she knelt at the grave. Her parents stood behind her in silence. The father laid a bundle of lilies against the headstone as girl whispered a prayer.
Slim watched from a distance, cigarette trembling between his spectral fingers.
“They really did care,”
he murmured, voice catching in his throat.
As the family walked back toward the road, Slim shuffled closer to his stone. He knelt and cupped his palms.
Tink. Tink. Tink. Tink.
Eight coins spilled from the base of the tombstone into his hands, clinking like arcade tokens.
Slim stared at them. The metal shimmered a faint blue. He took a drag.
“Just eight hundred and eighty to go.”
He pocketed seven coins, flipped one between his fingers, and shuffled toward the burial vaults.
The gambling table was an old concrete vault. A picnic cloth covered the top, stained with wine and ash. Two empty bottles rolled at the edge. The dealer stood at attention in a bow tie and translucent vest with a devious smile stretching across his face.
Slim leaned over the table, a coin between his knuckles and his cigarette clinging at the edge of his lip.
Across from him sat Bartholomew Winsler, a broad-shouldered man in a wrinkled brown suit and a black bowler. He grunted.
“You know you could save those, right? Passage don’t come cheap.”
Slim glanced at his hand, four sevens,
“Paradise, here I come.”
Then fanned himself with the flush.
He pushed the coins forward.
“All in.”
Bartholomew groaned, dropping his face into his palms, and folded.
The dealer shuffled with theatrical flair. Cards snapped through the air. Slim glared at the dealer, then revealed his four of a kind. The dealer’s toothy smile stretched further. Straight Flush, four of clubs to eight of clubs.
Slim’s cigarette slipped from his mouth and hovered in midair.
“House wins.”
Slim fished in his pocket for a gold-plated lighter and lit his floating cigarette. He took a long drag.
“Eight hundred eighty-seven more.”
He flicked his last coin in the air.
“One coin closer to The Ferryman.”
Bartholomew chimed,
“At this rate Slim, you will become The Ferryman.”
Written, narrated, and performed by Danny Maldonado
Music by Benjamin Esterlis - Golden Plains Forever (artlist.com)
Graveyard Shift #3
Officers McCready and Smith return to settle a property dispute between two arguing spirits. Even after death, people will be petty.
Table of Contents [Start Here]
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Danny!
That Slim - looking for fast rewards. tsk tsk tsk. Hah, I had fun. Thanks for sharing.
How fun and captivating! Excellence in storytelling! =)