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Post by nightreader on May 19, 2008 19:19:39 GMT
One Foot In The Grave Davis Grubb (Arrow 1966) Published in the sixties with a very groovy cover most of the stories are copyrighted as much earlier, from the mid 1940's through to the late 1950's. Busby’s Rat The Rabbit Prince Radio One Foot in the Grave Moonshine The Man Who Stole the Moon Nobody’s Watching! The Horsehair Trunk The Blue Glass Bottle Wynken, Blynken, and Nod Return of Verge Likens Where the Woodbine Twineth Busby's RatOld Busby hates the river, even if he is the wharfmaster. He lost his legs in an accident on board a ship on the river 20 years ago. Busby develops a strange relationship with the river rats, feeding and talking to them, and they respond to him, particularly the leader, the largest and most intelligent of them all. Busby also has a beautiful daughter called Eliza who he guards jealously from the attentions of young men. Then Jonas Tanner falls in love with Eliza, and she responds to him but her father forbids their relationship. Jonas is determined to be with Eliza so Busby pulls out a pistol but in the fray Busby is killed. Jonas and Eliza marry and eventually return to the river but the rats haven’t forgotten what happened… The Horsehair TrunkMarius Lindsey is a nasty piece of work. The story opens with him in the grip of typhoid fever, watched over by his pretty young wife. Marius is cruel to her even as his fever rages. Days later as he recovers Marius learns he has gained the ability to leave his body, to wander about invisibly while his body appears to be sleeping. He wonders how he can use this ability to further torment his poor wife, but to his surprise he finds that she is having an affair and is planning to leave him with her lover on the night boat. In a rage he plans his revenge, packs his horsehair trunk, books a ticket on the same night boat ensuring he has the cabin next to his wife’s new man. Of course it all goes horribly wrong… This story also appeared in Pan Horror 4.One Foot In The GraveHenry has a terrible accident at the sawmill and has to have his foot amputated. His friend and physician Doc sandy cares for Henry as his recovery begins. Henry tells Doc that somehow he can still feel his missing foot but Doc reassures him that this often happens. The two friends had once drunkenly bet that whoever died first the other had to give him a first class send off. Henry reckons he’s won the bet and Doc assures him the amputated foot has been buried, complete with sock and brand new shoe. It isn’t long before Henry feels he is going mad, for he is sure he can feel pavement and even grass under his missing foot. Henry decides to dig up the foot and sees that Doc had given it a proper burial, in a sock and one of the new shoes he’d bought but never got to wear, except the shoe is now scuffed and muddy and worn... |
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