Danse Macabre by Kory M Shrum

Author:Kory M Shrum [Shrum, Kory M]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kory M. Shrum
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

20

Piper stepped off the concrete porch and shook the landlady’s hand one more time, offering effusive gratitude.

The tiny woman with a hunched spine and coke-bottle glasses shuffled away from her, heading down the street toward her own home at the end of the block.

Piper watched her as she left, regarding the puff of wiry, white hair crowning her oversized coat.

It cost Piper a considerable chunk of her savings, but the apartment was now hers. The landlady wanted to take one more look at the contract, update it, and then Piper was to come by their office Monday morning, only three short days away. In the meantime, she could be safe in knowing that no one else would swoop in and steal this amazing find.

A large two-bedroom apartment with heat, water, and trash included. It overlooked a courtyard, its paving stones framing a single tree. While the apartment was quite close to the street, Piper didn’t mind a bit of traffic noise. It was clean. It wasn’t too far from work and best of all—it was hers.

Mom will like it here. It was the perfect place for them to put all of the past behind them and get her well again. Piper would take care of the bills and her mother could focus on her health. Money would be tight and maybe Piper couldn’t return to school in September, but by next January—anything was possible.

This will work. This has to work.

Piper couldn’t spend any more of her waking hours wondering whether or not she would come home and find her mother dead on the living room floor. Or another unexplainable black eye. Or, heaven forbid, her mother announced she intended to marry Willy, and make him her fifth husband.

Running back toward the bus stop, Piper felt better than she had in a long time. Things were looking up. She still had money in the bank, though admittedly not as much as she’d like. But she had more coming in from the jobs she loved.

Crossing Canal Street, white breath puffed in front of her face as she looked both ways. She wanted to pop into the shop and check on Mel before heading by her mom’s place to deliver the good news. Stomping her feet on the mat, Piper stepped into Fortunes and Fixes to the flickering moan of the haunted chandelier.

Dani was behind the counter, bending down to retrieve a brown paper bag. She wrapped one of the Papa Legba figurines carefully in several rolls of newsprint then slid it into the bag.

“There you go,” she chirped, smiling broadly at the young woman on the opposite side, a small kid hanging off her leg.

Piper waved at the child and she bashfully hid her face in her mother’s coat.

“Come on,” the mom said, drawing her away from the counter. “No, don’t touch.”

“Hey,” Dani said, leaning over the glass table. “I thought you weren’t coming by for a few more hours.”

“I wanted to see if Mel needed anything. Sometimes she runs out of

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.