“So what’s your story, morning glory?” he asked her, staring into her big brown eyes. They were like two magnets pulling him in. Of all the juke joints in town, he had to walk into this one. Where he would see this exotic gold skinned beauty in a dress that could cure cancer. It was a red dress. One that had seen its share of blood and lives fucked up beyond redemption. If dresses could talk, this one could write an encyclopedia of misery. He hadn’t given any of this the slightest thought. He just wanted to wet his whistle (and something else) that night. Seeing this kind of beauty in a place like this had to be a fluke…

The late 1980’s were a time in my life I normally don’t care to remember. My mother and I had moved away from my grandparents’ house. Theirs was the only home I knew. Mother had a bad habit of making poor decisions in men, and so for a while we bounced around from place to place. I even recall being at one school only for a week before we were on the lam once again. We ended up in San Antonio, TX. Finally, we settled into our very first apartment. It was good to have a place of our own for a change. In time, however, Mother found a new scumbag and he moved in. Gene was a former Army…

Lytle, Texas – August The chanting had stopped, and with that, Joey and Jason looked at each other, afraid of what they might face in the seconds ahead. Was she still alive? Yet their resolve had won the battle of the what-ifs earlier that day. It was a rare occasion when Jason considered the well-being of anyone else. His humanity was showing like a big red pimple on a nose, disgusting him. He also felt the need to be there for his best friend Joey. He wasn’t going to allow him to go in and rescue this weird chick all alone. He had to help. Joey would do the same for him. With their suspicions confirmed the day before they…

It would seem that all cities, even small towns, have their own ghost stories and urban legends. Living in Devine, Texas for 5 years, I always heard about the Salt and Pepper lady of the Devine Projects. Friends would speak of their experiences with this very strange and disturbing specter. If you grew up in the Devine Projects, your parents wouldn’t allow you to be outside whatsoever after dark, which was less due to the gangs and drug problem and more out of fear of the Salt and Pepper lady. There were the usual problems as with every low income residential slum. Gangs, drugs, domestic violence, pedophiles. It wasn’t the worst of all the projects but crime was still present.…