Advent Ghosts - The Widow's Solstice

She fumbled with the bottle in the dark and swallowed the pills with a gulp from the tap. The shadows of solstice were just that. And shadows couldn’t hurt, couldn’t walk, stab, or slither. Spineless and inert, couldn’t smash a spider. 

The house creaked, but what old house doesn’t? Beams adjusting to the weight of a thousand feet. But shadows don’t weigh a blink, can’t strike a match, can't block the moon. She grabbed her husband's coat and ran for the back door as moonlight glinted off the blade entering the front, glinted off the keys left hanging on a hook.


This short "ghost story" is for Advent Ghosts hosted by Loren Eaten at I Saw Lightning Fall.  You will find more 100-word (no more, no less) stories there.

Happy Winter Solstice!!

All The Way To The Top

When the ice storm hit on the night of the winter solstice and the power went out, we rediscovered things we enjoy but seldom have time for, and it’s remarkable how much time is freed up when there are no electronic devices to captivate your senses.

We paid close attention to daylight hours and the sun’s position in the sky; we minded time by the path of its progression. At nightfall, we lit candles and hauled an old kerosene heater out of the attic and kept track of the matches. We played cards and dominoes by candlelight. With the television off and internet down, the piano regained its rightful place at center stage, and rusty fingers turned nimble over the course of the outage.

When the skies cleared and the sun came out, the kids took to the outdoors with boots and camera. They climbed the slide on the dock at the pond,

all the way to the top.

And saw the tracks leading across the ice.

But I, wrapped in sweaters and scarves, read the first few chapters of hard copy, changed a few good words for better words and found errors that I missed on the screen. I call it monitor blindness. 

I considered a story of mayhem and murder in a two-hundred-year old barn. You can research a novel in a spooky barn, but do it before the sun goes down. 

Just saying…it’s not all bad when the power goes off. And when it comes back on, you have another experience to write about.