First of all let me explain I’m not much of a reader of this genre.
I grew up on monsters but they were the classics. Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney (Sr. & Jr.), Christopher Lee, Peter Lorre (remember him?) but got tired of then when the claymations were too slow and the sequels became soft porn. I put it all aside, like comic books, and never went back.
I also read as if a script for a movie. Can I picture the characters or the location or the action by what is written on the page?
Still I tried to go into this reading with an open mind. I had heard about this publication for over a decade and was curious to read the final writing.
“Ghostflowers” is a 6” x 9” 310 page novel written by a person I know. “A love story, with blood.” Sounds like a virgin copulation, but I’m sure it is darker than that. A Jackson will buy you this Journalstone pressing which seems pretty clean for a paperback. The type font looks like a Caslon in 10-point single space (which is a bit small for these old eyes but I’ll make do) justified on a plain bond paper. Each chapter starts with a 3-line drop cap with no consistency of where the type lands on the page except for the ½” gutter and outside border.
The cover looks like a duotone of a woman’s hair and bare shoulders credited to Don Noble. It could be a limp dead body or she is going down on someone. Across her back is a review by Mandy McHugh (?) with the term “Unputdownable…” Don’t know the author or if that is a real word. The script of the title ‘ghostflowers’ is just one of four type fonts. The title and the illustration don’t give a clue of what is inside (except for the splash of red assumable blood).
Let us take a look.
The first page is a list of ‘praises’ from other authors. This is usually reserved for the back cover, but maybe this is a ‘pep-talk’ needed to turn the page?
The dedication is to the author’s wife who came up with the idea of ‘writing a crappy novel and making some money’. Kick butt to the writer.
Note: These are only my interpretations and the following may give some spoilers.
Chapter 1
The preference of the waitress fainting and being caught by a biker has been established.
Rob yelled “Hey!” Who is Rob? Was he inside or outside?
Tina Tyler must be another waitress? She seems panicked until Rulhettes (assumable a black cook from the kitchen?) takes charge.
Deputy Duke (a cross between Festus Haggen or Barney Fife) was eating his burger at the counter while Sheriff Hicks (a stereotype of Buford T. Justice or Rosco Purvis Coltrane, but not Opie Taylor’s father) was outside in all this commotion.
Summer (we learn her name) is placed on the sofa (probably brown leather) in the office of Ralph Jenkins possible proprietor to the unknown restaurant where all this action was taking place.
So now we have Rob West?, Tina Tyler?, Sheriff Hicks?, Ralph Jenkins?, Deputy Duke?, Ruthette?, and Trager the biker. What about the couple in the booth? What is the place they are now all enclosed and interacting?
This is a hint in the forward that this biker and waitress have some past history? What was playing on the jukebox? Maybe Chapter 2 will fill in some of the holes?
Sidenote: On first reading of his draft the second chapter seemed like a rewrite of the first chapter. I thought that would be an interesting start as each chapter would be from a different character point of view. Character building from different perspectives. It didn’t turn out that way.
Read on…
Chapter 2
Why would Ruthette tells Rob to get the medical kit under the cash register when she had just told Ralph there was nothing in it to help revive this girl?
We see there is a situation between the fainted waitress and her mother
“Something just ain’t right here”
Capture 3
Colonel James Philip Trager is interrogated. How did the sheriff know a lieutenant colonel from a full bird colonel without the jewelry? Good thing she didn’t have a ‘paper’ straw in her glass.
Doc Bragg? Will there be more about him?
Summer calls him “James”? How did she know?
Did the sheriff give him back his knife?
Rob is jealous so he must be the boyfriend?
Chapter 4
The Dixie Dinette! Now we know where we are. Rt. 1 and Rt. 38, infuriately they don’t cross. The writer has a ‘thing’ about the smell of hot grease. Should the enameled pin be the stars and bars since the sheriff’s uniform had a flag patch on his sleeve?
Ruthette ‘Hawkins’ now has a last name, but we still only know the Sheriff as ‘Hicks’?
Lennon for President?
Pearl Scabury, clerk at the courthouse? What about her?
Changed focus of paragraph for a description of Summer’s body and her relationship with Rob.
Pig = BBQ
We now know that Kate and John Juniper are the couple in the booth. What about all the tourist and locals coming in after the drive-in?
Ronnie Sheffield and Kenny Cousins drive off to show off his new mustang. Was this the reason Summer was outside when she fainted or does she just wander around and not work much?
Ray Ray Pollard?
“His Eyes”
What was the ‘white pill’ taken by Hicks?
Chapter 5
Electra Glide to Rt. 81. Do all the readers know it is a Harley Davidson?
1st Infantry Division in Di An ? The Big Red 1 was never stationed in Di An?
Head for the shadows. Who is he hiding from?
Stone Bridge, Virginia.
Velvet sky?
“white knights” ? The KKK?
Angeline?
Hawkbournes
‘69 dk green mustang. Kenny’s new ride?
‘Easy Rider’ reference to fill up?
Steve, the gas station attendant.
“Look up”
Green Sinclair dino toy
Chapter 6
Tucker Coe? What was the name of the motel?
Loose in the night
Chapter 7
Rob’s ‘67 Falcon
How did ‘Stonebridge’ get a Hampton AM radio signal? From what I remember people in the valley had a difficult time receiving radio signals?
Why can’t Rob and Summer ‘Do It’ after going steady for so long?
The Midnight Rider
Feral shit of fire
The ‘Thing’
Why didn’t Rob back up and away from the attack instead of rolling up the windows?
I bet her seat was wet?
Chapter 8
Croatonan Ave. – Summer’s home built in 1919
Louise Moore (mother) with TV, cigarette smoke and commercial plates. What was she drinking? Was she retired? Was Summer supporting both of them?
‘Trifling’
Words – N-Tunneo, Roanoke
Wallis?
Photos of dead relatives
Chapter 9
Listening in the shadows and then bounding across lawns on all fours
Chapter 10
Why does Summer lock the door?
Ben-Low Market her Jr. year with Green Stamps for stereo.
Change from the White Album 3rd track to Janis “Summertime”
“Shit” her favorite word
Hangover at Va. Beach to get a tan
Diner Duds
Diaries from “daddy”. Reason for locking the bedroom door?
Mickey Stubbs beat up by bully Kenny Cousins.
Mrs. Mason, 5th grade teacher yelling @ Rob for being unique
Mrs. Shields, teacher for conformity
Young rebels in the 6th grade
At church, Mr. Blair, married skirt chaser, Yvomme Parker, housewife lush, Steve Stones’ big brother murdered.
Mrs. Watkins flower shop
Music of Fred Neil
Chapter 11
‘Loving memory of Confederate dead’ at St. John’s Church
A ’59 Chevy truck will have to wit
Chapter 12
The green Sinclair dino w/ a white rose
7/2/71
Chapter 12 (1)
Chapter change with date?
Hair dryer
Albert King “Born Under a Bad Sign”
3 years going steady – trifling
Gallivantings
Buddy Ro
Summer’s black Camaro ‘Fury’
Chapter 13 (2)
Three stumps Road
Jasmine Winter, planted flowers
Randy Winter, fighter w/ a few beers
Fight @ the Feedlot of the Blvd.
Driving a Dodge – Monaco
Iris Salmon’s idea – secretary
Ben Castle, general in Korea
“Buddy” Hicks?
Lonnie Hicks (sheriff’s son) had grown out his hair and was living in Canada
“Soulfire”
Chapter 14 (3)
Carter’s Caverns
What year did George Washington build the natural bridge?
Blanche Mitchell
“Patriot” motel
Stonewall Jackson Jr. High ‘65
Cheerleader
Checking up on Summer
Daryl Knicke teasing
Rob not making it
“Michel”?
Chapter 15 (4)
No records on the biker
“Horseshit”
Reach for a bottle of Scotch (that Summer would not share)
Stole Virgil Ackers shot glass after he shot his common law wife
Hick’s ‘pain’ pill?
“Head Ball Buster and Ass Kicker”
Chapter 16 (5)
Did you really need a motivation?
Biker’s older brother – Ben Castle
Bourbon
Message-
Michel D’ Aronot, 28 in 1918
Born in Montanarteo 1890
Korea Major Spencer Bradford
Charles Montaigne WWII
Michel D’ Argot born 1864
Dead bodies – drained ‘entirely’ of blood
(How much blood is in the body?) = 1.5 gallons
Hawkbournes clan
War is where the blood is
Make me like you
Chapter 16 (6)
Deputy Duke ‘Crawford’
Silas Leggett – disturbance
“Hooligans”
Pall Mall – surveillance of the Castle house
Chapter 17 (7)
Don Brewer drum beat
“Inside Looking Out”
(Where do you buy books and records and 8-tracks in Stonebridge?)
Summer – looking good
Johnnie Winter – Rock & Roll Hoochie Koo
How did Louise hear about the ‘motorcycle gang’?
Flat open TAB
“Born Ready”
Peck’s Pond Boy
‘Matresues Rose’ – Summer’s favorite
Wythe Blvd. the main business route
Atomic Drive-In
Bridget, the carhop (on skates?)
$2.71 for dinner – burger, BBQ, onion rings
Chicago – Sugarloaf – Wilson Pickett – Four Tops
Shenandoah Drive-In Theatre
Bungie Mallory, proprietor
Margie Mallory, ticket taker $1.00
Hammer movies – Bats, blood, babes, and breast
Salem menthol cigarettes - Tina
Boones Farm
Rob’s Schlitz Beer
Denny, Tina’s boyfriend
Start smoking
Chapter 18 (8)
Horror of Frankenstein
Biker arrives
Chapter 19 (9)
Ben has cancer in his dick
Second chance
‘Gift”
Reeling her in
Chapter 20 (10)
Switched to beer
Looking for the biker
Ronnie Sheffield
Drinking rum in RC Cola
Richie Rich and Jill in GTX
Dealing grass
Ronnie flirting
Chapter 12
Summer is not good enough
‘shit’
Chapter 13
It stopped
Chapter 14
She knows!
Delbert, the dinosaur toy
Chapter 15
Turned away
Where was Hicks?
Chapter 16
Ronnie, drunk and after her encounter with ‘the biker’ stumbled around looking for Kenny
Stoned encounter but ready to go
Ronnie’s wet seat from Summer
Biker to get his ass-kicked
Chapter 17
Rob is drunk and stinky and Summer is pissed over Ronnie
Shit on a stick
Crash
Tomorrow’s Party?
Chapter 18
The chase
The wolf was leading the sheep
Ronnie wants blood – lush
Squirrels don’t go out at night
The ‘boy’ knew the roads – it is his town
Baseball bat
Wayne Cousins (Kenny’s father)
Pearlie’s Roadhouse – Pabsts
The fight
Ronnie drinks blood
Kenny gets ass-kicked
“Little Red Riding Hood”
She felt his ‘love’ filling her
“Feed” Kenny
Chapter 19
James Carr album
Bourbon in cabinet
Summers room from her date with Rob
Chapter 20
“Only the Black Rose”
Underwear
“In Old Virginia – Gateway to Dixie”
Follow the scent of rose
Flirting in the garden @ 3:36AM
Blood can tell you a lot
“Summer do you have any idea who you are?”
Angeline
“Get me out of here”
Ride the night
Chapter 21
Free- ride
You want to do something wicked?
Stonybook Hollow
Amusement Park – Disney reflection?
Mr. Waddell – crazy
“The Invaders of Storybook Hollow”
“The Princess & the Midnight Ride”
Brat
Flirting adventure
Dark Forest
Peaceful – Dull
Mixed drinks in VA restaurants? 71?
Rio – did she remember?
Wanderlust
Chichen Itza – Mayans
Dreamlines – Australian aborigines led me straight to ‘you’!
Chapter 22
“Is it you?”
You better hurry up if you’re coming with me
Gold sprayed crest = emoji “D”
Mildred Hathoway, teacher voice
“The Dungeon of Doom”
Peter Pan Pirate ship
Sent you away?
Steal the village priest hog and locked inside the church before Easter
Michel D’ Aronot
Sent away from being rebellious
That is why I roam – dangerous
Darkies?
Fakes names – hiding
Tunnel rat (midnight rider)
The tunnels had been a feast.
“I need peace. I need life”
Ben – bond of brothers, forged by death and fire and courage
Destiny and Dreamlines
Merry – Go – Round horses – ‘Flower’
Sally Baily tried to ride ‘Flower’
“I want to go with you”
Angeline in County Cork, Ireland
Staked – in Rio de Janeiro
Poetry of the soul
“I need to be with you”
Chapter 23 –
Room 34 key
See Ben first
“It is I who belongs to you”
Woke Mrs. Crarey?
Chapter 1 – 7/3
Angeline men Colin, Vicenti
Phone from diner @ 8:36
(4 hours of sleep) – timeline
Sarah can’t come in tonight
Who is Sarah?
Chapter 2 – 7/3
Iris Salmon, get those cups
(blue hair) brings the coffee
What has Hicks being doing all this time?
Trager received a promotion to Lt. Colonel in Org Thank ‘67
Scotch in his coffee
“White” pill as a back pain reliever from a HS football fight
Hot damn. A druggie (Thailand)
“The hammer Is coming down”
Chapter 2 – 7/3
Pop 3 aspirins with a ice cold 7-11.
“Hey Hollywood” – sunglasses
Then Rob walked into the dinner
Joanie Windsor, report order
Rob = Crash
Hangover
Party @ nine – bring a cooler
Rev Hayes from St. John’s
Ruthette knew wit was wrong
Chapter 4 – 7/3
Wayne Cousin Texaco Station towing service from sheriff
Sheriff Hicks was headed out to ‘The Patriot Motel” for the biker.
Jack Holly’s field of corn
Duke parked behind him
Get out of here Deputy Duke
Dicks don’t nee any assistance
“He is a Goddame Pussie”
“We need a warrant?”
Millie Watson desk
Cousin Aber sez it’s the best County buffet on Stonebridge
Tucker, night manager
Sheriff nee a ‘lookie – loo’ in the room
He could be amend?
But Sheriff, we got to do it right
“I get it Sheriff. I get it but…”
“Mr. Trager? It’s the management. May I have a word with you?”
“No one damn thing”
Cherry coke and a gal for a ride
Chapter 5 – 7/3
“No sir-re Jim Bob Dandy’
Don Reese – WW1 friend
Col. James Trager is grandson of Don Reese
Cecil Hicks, sheriff’s brother, was died in an ambush in Korea
What Army records had ‘heroin’ connected to Col. Trager?
Chapter 6 – 7/3
Hicks is so mad!
Radio – Ronnie Sheffield is missing
Chapter 7 – 7/3
Summers mom’s 1959 Cadillac
What year is Summer’s black Camero
’69 from Aunt Bessie for $300.
Bought for son Dale who got blown up in Vietnam
Aunt Bessie smoked Chesterfield
Wanted $450 but settled for $300 cash
Louise loses her power over Summer
A sleep in her garden
Rob’s dog Dusty crapped in the kitchen and Rob stepped in it
Summer cancel tonight
Edumacate you on sci-fi?
Donna Cross from HS had a thing for Rob
Ray Ray would sell her a bottle
’66 Cameros excuses??
Took the phone back to the hall and pulled off her shoes (again?)
Chapter 8 – 7/3
Just after 7 (2 hour nap)
The authors is fascinated with girls underwear
“Come to dinner”
“What’s the occasion?” Summer
“Dress like a lady” Louise
Married. Having children.
Living like a ‘proper’ woman
Not like your father
She keeps returning to her bedroom instead of the Black Camero?
She lit a cigarette from her purse – what brand? Salem (menthol?)
Tramp?
Nipples poked out like bullets
Dressed like Playboy girls
Steals her fathers Zippo lighter w/Marine emblem – and it works
Sneaked out pass her mom.
Was she in her 20’s or in her teens?
Chapter 9 – 7/3
The biker goes back to Ben
Smells of French Cabernet
Sunset
’62 bottle of red wine – Latour
Leroy Nelman
“You’ve met her I hear”
Arches, openings, Mayans believed they were doorways to the beyond.
Afterlife
Why did you go ‘dirty’?
He was doing ‘bad’ to help the GI’s
Not all men are wolves like you and me
“Give me another shot”
“Drink my friend and be damned”
Chapter 10 – 7/3
Summer arrives at the Patriot
Shaking up at the no-tell motel
Bottle of Jack Daniels from Ray Ray Pollard at the ABC
A cry in the night
‘Shit on a stick’
Chapter 11 – 7/3
Why would Louise try Summer’s door if she always locked it? Why didn’t she hear the Camero start?
‘Pathway to the Light’ by Brother Enos Purvis from VA. Beach
Rock & Roll music – 28 hours a day
“Well I wonder what that ‘tramp daughter of mine’ is up to tonight?
Chapter 12 – 7/3
Michel crashes back into his motel room, smelling the sheriff and lackey
Why doesn’t Summer’s scratch excite him?
“Are you making the boo-boo go away?”
He did not want to ‘turn’ her
It is after 10:00 PM
The office smelled of stale cigarettes and boiled cabbage
Tell Tucker Coe a need for a new mirror and a doorknob
Easy peasy
“The sheriff did the damage” when he snuck in my room
Band-aids?
Search the room for planted evidence – a set-up
Not be allowed to love him
She knows
Chapter 13 – 7/3
You want to go to the party?
The Sugden Place
WGH “It’s too late baby, it’s too late”
Christy Conner making out with someone other than Hoss Calvert
Joey “Moon” Mullins
Tank Purcell
Gloria Jewett, soph. from W&M
Windy Travers
Hip guy in pickup playing a guitar
Tina gives a hug
Who is working the dinner if all of the waitress’s are out partying?
On a Saturday night?
Strawberry mountain moonshine
“Cousin Irvan”
Tina this is ‘James’ (she doesn’t know about Michel yet?) Why not Jim?
“Have you done ‘it’ with him?”
“Tina! Jeez!”
“Looking for trouble”
Sonny Blarret & Eddie Pugh wanted to drop acid
Stake your claim on that one
Network news to the hillbillies
Rose Wilkins will never get Dunk Midle to dance in front of people
I know more than you think
Tired of living in a space where time stands still
Summer shows off
I think we started something
How long were we dancing out there – forever
Joe Burwell, Frisbee
Horsey Cole
Dave Raymor, Jr. @ Tech and Kappa Sigma was pumping a keg
A pretentious know-it-all
Rob is here!
Jesse Moyer
Lindsay Hayes, the reverend’s 17-year-old daughter, making out with two guys
Moon Mullins is passed out on his ’65 Skylark
Rob and Summer were the party’s entertainment for everyone to watch
Eddie Pugh on his ’62 Catalina was looking for a baseball bat
“The monkeys are laughing at us”
Sonny Barrett
Rob and Summer break up
“Lets ride the fuck out of here”
Chapter 14 – 7/3
Cindy Shuford and Rickey Hawley making out in the Nicewarder barn
Find Kenny’s Mustang
“That’s blood”
Chapter 15 – 7/3
Storybook Hollow
The Haunted Castle dungeon room
Something no human has seen before
Fantasy Park envy again?
Hall of the Mountain King
He stole the ladder & lanterns
He left $200 on the counter to cover
Queen of a forgotten temple devoted to her
The Devils Altar
Born 1846 outside of Paris
Play with gems from an explorer
Black Sheep in my teens
Remittance men – wanderers
Explorer and rouge
Then there was ‘Angeline’
After winning a few hundred in steerage enjoying a Havana, he saw her at the bow (Titantic?)
‘Is it you?’
‘Shadow Woman’ in a dream
October sixteenth, 1872 – the night I was turned
(If Summer is Angeline, why does she nee to be turned (again?)
Hookiest language of “I must be alone”
I can ‘bequeath’ you
Helena Hawkbourne and her family
‘Angeline’ Hawkbourne
“So teach me”
Summer get naked
“Teach me”
This is where it becomes XXX
The want. The need
Chapter 1 – 7/4
Love & blood
More
Chapter 2 – 7/4
Kenny’s Mustang – blood-splattered windown
Deputy Curly Jackson, Collie Nettles, Billy Tate
Almost 12:30 AM
“Well shit”
Julie and Ford Sheffield
Hadn’t run off to elope
Enfield on the gate to the Nicewander Farm
Cindy Shuford & Ricky Hawley call it in from the payphone at the fire station.
Canvas the party
That’s a lot of blood
Call Elmore at the paper for photos
Doc Bragg, get up here pronto
Found in the backseat
Kenny’s alive
London
Singing “She’s Come Undone”
Chapter 3 – 7/4
2AM Fireworks over on Dog Mountain
Could take up to 3 days
Tea & warm milk – old man
What have I done?
Climb in a trucks and find a graveyard and while retching
Chapter 4 – 7/4
Elmore Eubank camera
Gordon Bragg, country’s informal coroner
Kenny is bound for Richmond
Hopped up fucking kids
Carla Adkins, the Record – Progress
Ward 8 at MCV
Danny Everlett
Kenny and Ray Ray got into a fight
“If I want my money, I’m gonna have to beat it out of him”
(If Ray Ray was dealing, why would Kenny be so angry owing?)
Kenny loaned Ray Ray $200
(The chopper was loud. Why didn’t any one hear it through the valley?)
“Why would Kenny go after the biker?”
“Call in the bears”
“Pronto Tonto”
Chapter 5 – 7/4
She wore one of his shirts and jeans so her :white’ outfit would be free of the blood that had dried on her skin
Shower love
Stay in the caverns so we can ‘turn’ in safety
Summer you no longer have a choice
House outside of Boston
Hicks & the sun were coming up
Chapter 6 – 7/4
Why would Summer go back home to sleep?
Bible
Play the whore
Chapter 7 – 7/4
Rt. 81
Kenny had done it, high, pissed off and drunk
Chaz Barley, Commonwealth Attorney
Sane trail from light
“I guess I’m in a heap of trouble?”
Hicks shots Michel
Sun comes up and Michel runs
Needing to kill
Chapter 8 – 7/4
We’re going to church – 7:28AM
Tweety bird dress
Jumpin’ Jesus show
“The truth will make you free”
‘A tragedy has fallen a young couple in town, one of whom is – was – a party of our St. John’s family’
Making a scene in my church
Chapter 9 – 7/4
Louis Crowder’s cornfield
Hawks is in pain
Good enough for God’s work
Went back to Ben Castles?
7:15. Searching Ben’s backyard
Hick’s breaks into house
Drank Markers Mark
Meperidine
Pop 3-
Sliosh the paintings
Chapter 10 – 7/4
Louise goes crazy
She had to choice
Dial “0”
Chapter 11 – 7/4
Back to the Dinette
Bailey Evans said Kenny chewed through her neck
Danny Everett said her through had been torn out
Tina – help Sarah
Summer didn’t belong her anymore
Sheriff Hicks – “Let’s go for a little ride girley girl – we gotta talk abut last night”
Chapter 12 – 7/4
Summer interrogation
“Get comfy Goldilocks”
2 hours & 3 Salems
“Sweatin’ the bitch down”
Knowing someone isn’t a crime
Rob West
The 4th of July party @ Nicewander Farm
“Not exactly”
“That goddamn illegal hullaballoo”
“Kenny chased him?”
I don’t see how that is any of your business?
Guilty as shit
Your mother called me
Chapter 13 – 7/4
Another 3 hours then let her sit for another hour
Back to the dinner
“Hicks wants to pin Ronnie on Trager
Driver back home (again)
Tummy problems – turning?
Summer vomits
Black bile and blood
Chapter 14 – 7/4
Washington – Jefferson Heritage Park
Cockey Seward, of Cockey’s Maytag
Roberta Ledbetter, Henrick J. Cordell Memorial Library
Lion Club Jug Band
Humph, good riddance
“My cousin, the cannibal”
Old people drank Schaefers
8:44PM in the bathroom
Why did she clean up the bathroom?
Until the beast can be lossed
“Rob” in the garden
“I’m not he one for you”
Summer fed on Rob
Michel had been shot
Chapter 15 – 7/4
Sheriff stays in his office
Willie Weeks, caretaker at St. John’ found a motorcycle
The mausoleum has been broken into
Code Two Iris!
20 minutes later Hicks has 8 deputies
Tear gas? Overkill
The grey beast is shot
Collie Nettles loses an arm
Cease fire
And he would fleed for it
Chapter 16 – 7/4
Storybook Hollow, sanctuary
Grounded?
Crumbled at Summer’s feet
Chapter 17 – 7/4
8:54 – emergency at St. John’s cemetery
8:58 – emergency at 56 Croatoan Avenue
Mrs. Louise Moore, age sixty-two
Porky sneaks looks, “She’s a looker”
9:45 – Collins Nettles was on the operating table
Dr. Wilson Stoney
Pain pills
Stay awake
Sheriff steals pills
Okey Dokey
Chapter 18 – 7/4
Never hugged her mom
Nurse Baker and Doc Rolly Hoyt
3 weeks in the hospital
Take some more tests
“So she’s going to live?”
Untamed reflection
Hicks encounter
He was high
Collie didn’t make it
Important police business
Hicks had lost it
Needle in Louise’s skin
Morphine from the doctor’s treasure chest
“I’ll take you to him”
Chapter 19 – 7/4
Storybook Hollow
“Onward Christian Soldiers”
“Where?”
“The Dark Forrest”
Duke gets shot
The great beast lumbered from the darkness
Ben Castle
“Run him – lead him back to town”
3AM meeting
Chapter 20 – 7/4
Dr. Rolly Hoyt & Nurse Gaynelle Baker
He shot me
Chapter 21 – 7/4
Bats chased Hicks
Ichor?
3 miles from town Stonebridge Motor Lodge fire of ‘67
Phone booth
Linwood Holbert’s cornfield
Larkin brothers collards field
Northumberland
Meriam Teagues house
Henry Williford dog, Dawg barks
Ne-er do wells
Barton Owens place
Dotty ? Mrs. Hicks?
3 Pabst and a belch
Racehorse pee
‘That rotgut gonna turn your liver into a sponge’
Time to confess
As for forgiveness
Sheriff Amberson “Buddy” Hicks
Alicia Ryan
Chapter 22 – 7/4 (after midnight?)
Summer & Merit leave the hospital in her Camero
“You commanded the bats”
Reflection
“Would you really want it to be?”
That was the last time they would see each other for many years
Let go of everything
2:48 “Shit”
They were ghostflowers
Deputy Ashton Ivor, J. B. Keever, Red Haverly
Trashed her bloodied clothing
Deputy Curley Jackson
Evie Garland crying, Dukes girlfriend
TV Guide crossword puzzle
When will all this shit ends?
GET OUT!
Disowned – outcast
3:23 – DRIVE
Chapter 23 – 7/5?
He’s still not answering
Deputy Joynes ‘Clinton’
Iris snored
Stole “Trager” file
Telex – INTERPOL
The Hawkbournes could already be here
Secret compartment was intact
One last thing to do
Chapter 24 –
Back door?
Holy shit is right
Chapter 25 –
Back to the Dixie Dinette
Brought back my key
There was no way back
The note
It breaks my heart to leave you
Unwittingly exposed me to my enemies
Stay in the shadows
Go to Washington DC
Solomon Bronze, attorney
Sent by John Raven
“If then true lovers have been ever crossed, it stands as an edict in destiny”
You will get a package
This was not the way it was supposed to be
$20,000
Cheap thrill
Bring it on-
The End
In conclusion:
“ghostflowers” was a slow, disjointed read to me. The early chapters dragged with innuendoes and hints that take forever to realize. The last chapters tried to cram in all the answers but it is too busy.
Why the long cast of characters:
Biker Colonel James Philip Trager (Michel D’ Aronot)
Summer Moore, waitress (Angeline)
Rob West
Tina Tyler, waitress
Deputy Duke Crawford
Sheriff Amberson “Buddy” Hicks
Ruthettes Hawkins, Cook
Ralph Jenkins, proprietor of Dixie Dinette
Doc Bragg
Pearl Scabury, clerk at the courthouse
Kate & John Juniper
Ronnie Sheffield
Kenny Cousins
Ray Ray Pollard, ABC store
Hank Bourneo
Steve, the gas station attendant
Tucker Coe, motel attendant
Louise Moore, mother
Wallis ?
Mickey Stubbs, bully
Mrs. Mason, 5th grade teacher
Mrs. Shield, teacher
Mr. Blair, married skirt chaser
Yvomme Parker, housewife lush
Steve Stones, big brother murdered
Mrs. Watkins flower shop
Buddy Ro
Jasmine Winter, planted flowers
Randy Winter, fighter w/ a few beer
Ben Castle, general in Korea
Lonnie Hicks (sheriff’s son) had grown out his hair and was living in Canada
Blanche Mitchell
Daryl Knicke teasing
Stole Virgil Ackers shot glass after he shot his common law wife
Korea Major Spencer Bradford
Charles Montaigne WWII
Bridget, the carhop (on skates?)
Bungie Mallory, proprietor Shenandoah Drive-In Theatre
Margie Mallory, ticket taker $1.00
Denny, Tina’s boyfriend
Richie Rich and Jill in GTX
Delbert, the dinosaur toy
Wayne Cousins (Kenny’s father)
Mr. Waddell – crazy
Mildred Hathoway, teacher voice
Sally Baily tried to ride ‘Flower’
Woke Mrs. Crarey?
Sarah, waitress
Iris Salmon
Joanie Windsor, report order
Rev Hayes from St. John’s
Jack Holly’s field of corn
Millie Watson desk
Don Reese – WW1 friend
Cecil Hicks, sheriff’s brother, was died in an ambush in Korea
Aunt Bessie
Donna Cross
Leroy Nelman
Christy Conner
Joey “Moon” Mullins
Tank Purcell
Gloria Jewett, soph from W&M
Windy Travers
Hip guy in pickup playing a guitar
Sonny Blarret
Eddie Pugh
Rose Wilkins
Dunk Midle
Joe Burwell, Frisbee
Horsey Cole
Dave Raymor, Jr. @ Tech and Kappa Sigma was pumping a keg
Jesse Moyer
Lindsay Hayes, the reverend’s 17-year-old daughter, making out with two guys
Moon Mullins
Cindy Shuford
Rickey Hawley
Helena Hawkbourne and her family
‘Angeline’ Hawkbourne
Deputy Curly Jackson
Deputy Collie Nettles
Deputy Billy Tate
Deputy Enfield
Elmore Eubank, camera
Gordon Bragg, country’s informal coroner
Carla Adkins, the Record – Progress
Danny Everlett
Chaz Barley, Commonwealth Attorney
Louis Crowder’s cornfield
Bailey Evans
Danny Everett
Willie Weeks, caretaker at St. John’ found a motorcycle
Dr. Wilson Stoney
Nurse Gaynelle Baker
Doc Rolly Hoyt
Linwood Holbert’s cornfield
Meriam Teagues
Barton Owens
Dotty? Mrs. Hicks?
Alicia Ryan
Barton Owens
Deputy Ashton Ivor
Deputy J. B. Keever
Deputy Red Haverly
Deputy Curley Jackson
Evie Garland crying, Dukes girlfriend
Deputy Clinton Joynes
Solomon Bronze, attorney
Sent by John Raven
If this becomes a movie, you’ll be broke paying all the extras.
The main characters we get some graphic details of what they look like.
Summer is blonde and shapely, but what else. She is a waitress and was a high school cheerleader. She lives with her mother and drives a black Camero. Rob, her boyfriend, is an unknown.
Sheriff Hicks is only assumed to be the overweight county redneck sheriff. Does he wear a brown uniform with cowboy boots? What kind of pistol does he carry? Is it a pearl handle like Gen. Patton?
“The biker”. Has long black hair. Wearing an army jacket. Is described by the sheriff as a ‘hippy’. Is he white or black? This story would take a turn if Col. James Trager were an afro-American.
Branding? I know the author worked in advertising but why the different brands of cigarettes? What about the model of the cars? Why the brands of the beers and not the soft drinks at the drive-in?
If Summer has been out of high school for three years, why does she still act like a teenager? Is living in a small rural town with her mother regressing her maturity?
What was on Ben’s letter to Michel? Written in blood?
Why note the roadways that don’t match the maps? Could be the highway or route rather than a number? Instead of a made up town, it could have been a real location like Dumpass or Greyledge or Harvey? Real places with real locations and real roads and real stores for references. The community tourist center could sponsor the printing cost?
The chapters were a bit jerky. Motel. Dinette. Mother’s house. Drive-in movie. Motel. Ben’s house. Etc. Maybe a writing style from ‘Dark Shadows’?
The title ‘ghostflowers’ I assume references Summer’s garden and white roses (though the cover doesn’t show the link).
The author wraps up the mother, the sheriff, Ronnie & Kenny, Deputy Duke, and turned Ben and Summer. Then he runs off leaving his love for another time. Is she pregnant? Do vampires get pregnant? It would be a good sequel the “Son of Dixie”
I personally was disappointed. I expected more. Fewer characters and more of a psyche in-depth study of each. Was the sheriff jealous of a war veteran? Why was Summer always going back home? Why couldn’t they hear the motorcycle in the valley?
‘ghostflowers’ left me more questions and enjoyable reading. Better luck next time.
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