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    The Festival: Haunted Coal Ridge, #16
    The Festival: Haunted Coal Ridge, #16
    The Festival: Haunted Coal Ridge, #16
    Ebook44 pages34 minutes

    The Festival: Haunted Coal Ridge, #16

    By Chuck Sperati

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    About this ebook

    A series of intertwined supernatural stories that will make you wonder where the darkness ends and the light begins. All small towns keep secrets, but in Coal Ridge when the secret gets out, it begins to feed…again.

    Story 16: "The Festival"

    The Fourth of July Fireman's Festival has food, rides, and games—there is something for everyone. It is the one event that brings out the residents of Coal Ridge and brings back those who have moved away, but when an uninvited guest shows up, the festivities turn deadly.

    After a longtime firefighter finds himself trapped between worlds with a soul devouring monster, all his skills are put to the test. Will he be able to rescue them all or will someone be left behind?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWriting Distracted
    Release dateJun 30, 2019
    ISBN9781646390069
    The Festival: Haunted Coal Ridge, #16
    Author

    Chuck Sperati

    Among other things, I'm a writer--with some published experience--whose been mostly quiet for the past few decades, mostly because I let life get in the way. I've long had a creative outlet at the gaming table and recently found another when I started building a website. With this new outlet also came inspiration. Right now I'm working primarily on a series of short stories that has received some very positive feedback, so I'm sharing. If you enjoy anything I've written, check out my website at https://www.chucksperati.com, where you can find more things that have crawled out of my imagination.

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      Book preview

      The Festival - Chuck Sperati

      Dedication

      Coal Ridge is based on Ohio's Finest Village. It was a great place to grow up and continues to be a remarkable community to which I enjoy returning to see friends and family. For those who live there, take a moment, look around, and be wary of the shadows.

      Preface

      A series of intertwined short stories that will make you wonder where the darkness ends and the light begins. All small towns keep secrets, but in Coal Ridge when the secret gets out, it begins to feed...again.

      Set in a small, somewhat geographically secluded town in the Midwest, the blue-collar people of Coal Ridge are friendly and laid back, enjoying block parties, gossip, and the simple joys that come with being a close-knit community. Because everyone knows everyone else, secrets are hard to keep, but some are so well hidden that they've been forgotten.

      These short stories explore a supernatural awakening that will test the bonds of family and community.

      The Festival

      With a sliding noise that made a sound like falge and was followed by a metallic thunk, the potato slicer spit out a handful of french-fries.

      The old fireman operating the device, Ray Carroll, mopped sweat off his brow with a dirty rag. Offering a smile to George Hanover's wife, Kelly, who slid the pile into a basket to drop into the deep fryers, he leaned back against the table for a moment. The Fireman Fry Shack was the most popular attraction at the Coal Ridge Fourth of July Fireman’s Festival, and it helped to fund the all-volunteer department, but it was a hell of a lot of work. Picking up another potato, he placed it in the slicer and took a deep breath.

      We're six orders deep, Andrea Cromwell called back, but we've only got four orders down. I don't hear potatoes being cut back there. Pulling the handle down, the slicer made its noise and spit out a small pile of fries. That's better. Keep them coming.

      Every year, Ray volunteered to run the slicer and every year he had regrets. It was as if over the intervening months he forgot how much work it was and how demanding the ladies in the front could be. Falge. Thunk. His shoulder twinged as another potato became fries. The problem was that as older firemen were retiring, the younger ones weren't volunteering to work the shack, leaving it up to him and a couple others to keep it going for as long as they could. At some point there would be a festival without Fireman Fries. Whether out of pride or tradition, he didn't want to see that happen in his lifetime. Falge. Thunk.

      A tap in his shoulder caused him to turn to his left, but he didn’t see anyone.

      Hey, a voice called from his right.

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