A hop, skip but not a jump away from my hometown is my father's hometown. My apartment was on top of a former diner turned jewelry store. While walking home one night, I went through some of the back streets and came upon some people who lived up the way. Of course they reside only in dreams and this is their first appearance so no one is misled by my poor writing ability. The wife was stealing money which was left out for the paperboy but there was something a bit more sinister afoot in the neighborhood. I never learned for certain but, as raddidge would say, it was common knowledge that a murder occurred in their home and they were keeping the body until the cops called off the dogs and everyone settled into complacency.

When I got near the intersection by my home, my father pulled up in a black and rusty European sports car. It was only about three feet high and nine feet long. He was supine while driving his machine and accompanying him in the back was a cinnamon colored great dane. The dog eventually squirmed out the window and I could see he was crying milk. Dad said that someone stabbed the dog in the eye and that'd happen for a while.

Further up Main Street, I went into my mother's business which doesn't exist in real life. For those of you "in the know", it's the bakery next door to the lingerie shop. Of course my mother wasn't running a bakery, she owned a store geared towards teens. A mongrel of Hot Topic, Spencer's Gifts and one of those darkened New York City stores full of imported stuff and antiques. Mom wasn't around but she wanted me to run the place while she was busy with her errands. A bad idea.

The place was haunted, full of angry ghosts who scared the living shit out of me. I could only see them as reflections in the storefront windows. One was wearing blue and an orange baseball cap. When I wasn't avoiding looking at the reflections, I was dumbstruck by the flying and crashing objects. I don't remember much else but I know my mother returned with the great dane in tow which seemed to settle down the restless spirits. Plus the store was above an old graveyard.