The Hungry Ghost by Dalena Storm

Author:Dalena Storm [Storm, Dalena]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781732935754
Publisher: Black Spot Books
Published: 2019-06-10T22:00:00+00:00

Over the course of the day, Jimmy had found homes for six cats, including Macy Gray, who’d become impatient with her kittens lately and would probably welcome the solitude. Mickey didn’t seem terribly happy about the recent changes in residency, though. She'd been restless all afternoon but didn't want to play. Jimmy tried to pet and soothe her until at last she’d fallen asleep on the windowsill, where she still was now. Soon he’d be celebrating with his little family. He had a turkey waiting in the oven upstairs and he’d left his guitar by the door in anticipation of some after-dinner serenading.

Once upon a time, Jimmy had had two dreams. Not dreams in the literal sense, but dreams in the figurative sense. When he was just a kid, moving from foster home to foster home, he’d thought someday he wanted to own a place of his own. A business-type place, with living quarters attached. He’d checked that dream off the day he’d opened his store, and it had felt good. But there had been a second dream, too—a bit more far-fetched. Jimmy had wanted to be a magician.

Not a stage magician. More like a sorcerer. Someone who studied the lost arts and learned how to perform spells and then became the very best. Of course, that was one of those stupid dreams, the sort a kid had before he learned how the world worked, and as a black man growing up at the mercy of the foster care system, Jimmy had certainly learned how the world worked.

During his days as a runaway when he’d decided to escape the system, Jimmy had gotten into some fairly serious encounters with other folks who lived in the park where he’d camped out. Humans could be just as territorial as cats—no, worse—and one event stood out in his mind as a particularly close call with death. He’d been living in a tent at the edge of some hiking trails, eating canned food he’d picked up here and there, and steadily losing hope. Things had kept getting worse and worse, and Jimmy had started to think they would never get any better—that maybe he’d die out there in the woods, alone and homeless.

The day passed, twilight had arrived, and Jimmy was sitting at what should have been his campfire, trying to get the flame to catch, but the wind kept blowing it out. Over and over again, he’d start to get a little glow and poof—nothing. Jimmy swore to himself. He cursed and spit and then he stood up. To hell with it, he thought. To hell with all of it.

No sooner had he thought this than Jimmy heard the sound of a drunken group of men stumbling through the nearby woods. They were burping and hollering and generally making a ruckus. Jimmy felt himself go as still as a panther as fear itched through his body before being replaced shortly by rage. Why the hell did he feel like he had to be

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