Free Book Promotion on Amazon Kindle!

Starting on October 17th through October 21st, A Daily Dose of Ghosts will be free at the Kindle Store on Amazon.com! 

A great time to read some Ghost Stories for Halloween! 

One Way Car Wash

Here is a freebie to enjoy! By the way, Volume 2 of A Daily Dose of Ghosts has been started! I hope to have it out by October 1st. 

One Way Car Wash

by D L Kaiser

Dexter pounds on the bar.

“Brrrrinnng me annnother one!”

“Sorry Dex.  No can do.  You’ve had too much buddy.”

He pushes his way through the crowd, spilling drinks, and grabbing one from a girl that is not paying any attention to hers.  He downs it in one gulp.

“Hey! That was mine!”

“Tooooo bad!”

He charges outside to his car, barfs loudly on the outside, then crawls inside to pass out for a half hour.  He barfs again all over his upholstery.   An hour later he smells the mess he has made. 

The gas pedal is floored, and the car skids into the carwash.  Silence greets Dexter pulls out a twenty and stumbles to the change machine.  The twenty dollar bill slides in. 

“You need to sober up bud.  No lushes on the job.” 

“Where did that come from?” Blood shot eyes scan the area.  He is starting to come around.

Unsteady steps lead him back to the car.  He grabs some rags in the trunk and wipes off his upholstery.  A squeal permeates the air as the car jerks forward to the air fresheners.  The money goes in.  A voice speaks.

“Smells better than you loser.”

Dexter laughs at the joke.  It smells like tacky pine scented aftershave to him.

He uses the shampooer and drops several quarters.  The same gravelly voice is taunting him.

“You need more than soap to fix your life Dexter.”

“The things they can do with computers.  Must have got my info from my credit card.”

Somewhere in the back of his mind he knows that he did not actually use his credit card.  He shakes it off, empties the car of trash, then jerks the car forward into the bay.

Bay doors close and slam loudly.  He could have sworn that you had to press a button to have the bay doors close.

“Must be automatically done.  Yeah.  That’s it.  God, I’m tired.  Get this done.”  The mats are next.  He grimaced and almost vomited again looking at them.  Depositing ten dollars worth of quarters, the machine speaks to him again.

“Can’t hold your liquor can you?  You broke the biggest rule of them all Dexter.  I don’t allow unreliable workers in my car wash.”

“Somebody’s idea of a sick joke!” 

His hand reached for the washing wand, and it is so hot, so hot, it seems like it is melting his skin.  He feels odd. 

The arm for the foaming brush floats to where he is standing.  His mouth forms an “O” because he is in awe of what is happening to him.  The foam suddenly squirts out all over Dexter’s face.   He feels as if it is dissolving his skin.

“Get away from me!”

He runs, but the arm follows him, and foam squirts all over him.  The wand in his hand turns and starts sucking at his face.  The foam meanwhile, squirts more of the dissolving liquid onto Dexter.  Night closes in as screams echo in the bay.

Harvey looked around for the owner of the car first thing in the morning.  Odd.  Nowhere to be found.  Funny, the same thing happened last year.  He bent to clean up some old clothes and trash in the bay.

His mind brought up a memory of his coworkers telling him a story about the original owner of the carwash, how he had been cruel and abusive to his employees.  They even claimed that he haunted it on the anniversary of his death.  Ridiculous.

A gravelly voice comes from nowhere. 

“Good job Harvey.” 

Harvey jumped in surprise and then laughed, wondering when they had installed computers.

THE END

Congratulations to Winners of Goodreads Giveaway!!

Congratulations to the Winners of Goodreads Giveaway!!

Hi all! Just a quick congratulations to the 35 lucky winners of A Daily Dose of Ghosts, mailed today at the post office.  I felt sorry for those folks in back of me as the mail clerk went through 35 packages one by one and entered them in to the computer and put the postage on.  According to my receipt, most of the winners will have their book by August 8th! That's pretty good, since I sent it book rate. 

Happy Reading!

D. L. Kaiser

Here is another wonderful opportunity to receive a free signed copy from the author! Good Luck!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

A Daily Dose of Ghosts

by D.L. Kaiser

Giveaway ends July 31, 2014.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Gone Fishing by D L Kaiser

Just an FYI..if you haven't purchased the e-book yet on Amazon, I am having a "countdown" sale of $1.99 on Friday the 27th of June, and then the countdown begins back to the original price of the e-book to $4.99. :) Enjoy the latest free story!

Gone Fishing

by D. L. Kaiser

         A plethora of Dame Rockets bloom in Spring among the thick forest bed where there is a trail that is barely tread by humans.  A branch crackles as a woman passes through the bunch of leaves.  The ghost grows curious and follows.

         The mountainside was growing steeper but she trudged on.  No one would know about this trip.  They would never guess!  Her pack cut deep into her shoulders and she shifted it, momentarily causing her to stumble over an unseen rock.  She sat on an old stump overgrown with moss.  Her head turned swiftly to the right as she heard something nearby.  The tree line for the mountain on her right was in view.  Below that the dense forest hid whatever creature made the thudding noise. 

         An hour later Kayla arrived at a small ivy covered shed  and stepped forward through the open rotting door.  The bedroll and a small camp stove were dusty from disuse since the previous trip here.  She smiled at her own cleverness at the recent discovery of this abandoned area.   She rested.

         Kayla awoke when the door to the shed slammed shut. Shafts of light splayed in stripes across the floor.  She followed one of them that led to her pack.  There was a small trowel inside that would make a good weapon.  Her breath was jagged with fear as she stood.  Two unseen hands threw Kayla against the wall.  For a moment she swore that there was a ghostly form of a man floating above her.  Blackness closed in as she fainted.

         Three hours had gone by.  Kayla struggled to sit up with a headache worse than any she had ever experienced.  Then she remembered what had happened.  She grabbed her pack and carefully withdrew the trowel and a flashlight.  After slinging the pack over one shoulder, she carefully opened the door.  It was now very dark.  Her heart beat a loud rhythm in her ears.  Sudden rustling a few feet away prompted her legs into action.  She ran with gazelle like strides, her long legs reaching as far as possible down the hillside allowing her some much needed speed.  Her footfalls became more assured.

         Her neck was grabbed from behind and she was lifted up into the air.

         “So what are you hiding?”

         Kayla tried to scream, but no sound would emit from her cut-off vocal chords.  Her eyes penetrated through the darkness to discern that an invisible entity held her.  The fear burst through with energy in the next moment.  She slashed the air with the trowel. 

         The ghost dropped her hard.  She gasped for air, gripping her trowel and backpack, ready to flee.  She was on one knee when the ghost kicked dirt into her face.

         “Better tell me now.” 

         She heard the low grumble  of threat in his voice, and spit dirt out of her mouth.

         “Who are you?  What do you want?”

         “I ask the questions here.  You had better answer them if you want to live!”

         She fled.  His laugh echoed down the hillside.

         When she was halfway across a stream, a large branch waved in front of her, shoved her hard enough that she landed hard onto her backside into the water.

         “Now WHAT are you hiding?  I can tell you were up to something.  No one comes out here.”

         Anger exploded in Kayla’s brain. 

         “Who the hell are you?  Why should I answer any of your questions you invisible effing asshole!”

         Her pack was pulled unceremoniously off her back and flung to the side of the creek. She stared as it was unzipped and flipped over spilling all of the contents.

         “Hey! Cut it out!”

         One small item floated in the air towards her but it was impossible to make out in the dark.  Then, the ghost dipped it in the stream.  It continued to get closer until her mouth formed an “O” in surprise. 

         “Soap?”

         “For smart potty mouths like yours!”

         She screamed as her shirt collar was yanked from behind and she hung in the air as the soap was forced all over her lips and face.  She struggled until finally giving in to hanging loosely and sobbing.

         The ghost set her down beside the backpack.  Splashes of water came at her to wash off the soap. 

         “Now, are you ready to talk?”

         “I took some jewelry off of the people in the retirement home that I work for.  Some of them were dead and had no relatives, so no one cares anyway!”

         She fidgeted as the silence grew in length.  Maybe she shouldn’t have told the truth.

         “So, you have a plan?  What are you going to do with the money for pawning the jewelry?”

         “Go somewhere warm and live, get away from this stupid town.  Even if it’s just a shabby old trailer, it would sure beat this hell hole.”

         “Why don’t you straighten up and earn your nest egg the honest way?”

         “Are you for real?  I’m not spending any more time with these backwards, stupid, narrow-minded, boring people.”

         The ghost was again silent for another uncomfortable stretch of time.

         “I will help you then.”

         Kayla was suddenly confused at his abrupt change of heart. 

         “Why would you help me? And what do you get out of it, huh?”

         “I keep everyone out of these woods.  You are the first person I have let onto my land except for an old fishing buddy.”

         “Now why would you do that for me?”

         “I have my reasons.  Let’s say I am doing my last job.  A little payment of service.”

         “So you’ll keep my jewelry safe from being discovered?”

         “For a while.”

         That seemed to satisfy Kayla.

         During the six months that had passed, they developed a system where she would drop off the stolen articles and the ghost would then carry it up to be placed with the rest.

         One December night Kayla and her supervisor had a horrible argument. 

         “I quit!”  Kayla yelled into her face.

         “Get your things and leave!”

         Kayla marched to her locker and pulled out her backpack.  After a few more terse words back to her supervisor, she headed outside to her truck.  Tires spun gravel as she pulled out of the lot behind the retirement home.  Kayla’s supervisor misted the glass window with her sigh of relief as she watched Kayla drive away.

         She jammed her clothes into a couple of laundry bags along with her favorite make-up and her hair accessories. 

         The forest lit up with the headlights.  Kayla hit the horn briefly.  The passenger door opened and the hair on her arms stood up.  She never quite got accustomed to the ghost.

         “You are here earlier than usual.”

         “Change of plans.  I need all of the jewelry now.  It’s time for me to get out of this horrible town.  I’m tired of those crabby, smelly old people anyway.”

         “I’ll be back shortly. “

         Kayla drummed an uncoordinated rhythm on the steering wheel for five minutes until she became bored and stepped out and stomped with impatience.

         “Hey ghost man!  Hurry it up!”

         She clomped over to where the trail began.  She screamed in frustration at the sight before her.  Hanging on the branches were bracelets, necklaces, and earrings artfully arranged.  She stood for a moment and realized how many there were.

         “What the heck! HEY! What are you doing?”

         Kayla fought, kicked and screamed as the ghost assailed her once more.  Rope came up from the ground and wrapped around her body.  Next she was carried over the ghosts back and tied up next to all of the jewelry in the bough of a tree. 

         “They will find you and know you for what you really are.  I can finally retire after my last job.  If you don’t want me haunting you any longer, then pass on my message.”

         “What are you talking about?”  Kayla squirmed to no avail.

         “Deputy Carlos will know.”

         Kayla was still.  Did a ghost cop dupe her?  She groaned and watched helplessly as the ghost drove her truck down to the highway and parked it conspicuously beside the entrance to the forest road.

         Forty-eight hours later Deputy Carlos received a phone call from Deputy Rivers.

         “Deputy?  I have a strange message to pass on.”

         “Go ahead Deputy Rivers.”

         “Kayla Grubens, a criminal we apprehended on Sheriff Collins old farm, says to pass on a message.  This one’s a real nutcase.  She claims a ghost told her he did his last job before retirement.”

         Deputy Carlos was speechless.

         “Deputy, I know that this message makes no sense, but we can’t get this woman to shut up.  She’s keeping the other prisoners awake yelling at someone to stop following her and the only way she will shut up is to pass on this message.”

         Thank you Deputy Rivers.”

         Deputy Carlos collapsed into his chair.  Ten years ago his fishing buddy died. He remembered his words exactly the last day that he saw him alive. 

         “I retired too early son! I feel like owe this town at least one more job before I meet my maker.”

         Deputy Carlos stood at the graveside of Sheriff Collins. 

         “Congratulations on your last job well done.”

         He laid a hat on the grave that said “Gone Fishing.”

THE END

Wendolyn Adelle Jones And The Fire Ghost

Wendolyn Adelle Jones dreamt of a fire ghost when she was five years old.  Her family heard all about the ghost from her delicate little lips and shushed her and told her it was all just a dream.  Then when she was fifteen, the fire ghost came to her in a dream once more.  When she was finished telling her mother and father her dream, eyebrows were raised.  

"I think that you need some help dear.  It is not normal to dream of these creatures that destroy our wonderful home and family."  

"Your mother is right Wendy dear.  We don't want you to think on it any further."

It just so happened that Wendolyn's father had influence in the medical circles, since he was a physician himself.  So that very afternoon, Wendolyn was sent to a very well known specialist.  At the end of the session, she did feel better, but only because he proclaimed her to be charming, clever, and very healthy mentally except for her strange dream.   Obviously her parents expected her to continue to see him.  She had other ideas.

The cab driver opened the door and she stepped out and handed him a twenty pound note.  He was pleased by the tip, and gave her a nod of approval.  

It was then that she heard a scream and looked up into the window of her mother's room.  There was smoke coming out of all of the windows.  Wendy ran in as fast as her feet could take her, but it was not fast enough to stop a huge crash of stairs from collapsing.  Her parents were screaming.

At the top of the stairs stood a being all of fire.  He stopped, turned and looked at her.  His eyes were a strange color of orange, and his body made of blue fire.  He laughed and headed back into her father's study.  It was obvious that was where the fire had started.  He shouted down to her.

"You won't stop me from my revenge little girl!"

Wendy screamed in frustration as the fire spread further down the stairs, blocking her path to the upstairs entirely now. 

She ran back outside and screamed for help.  Several of her neighbors ran forward from their houses now.  She was encircled with panicked faces.  She convinced them to come inside, but several of the men gave up trying to put the fire out.  She tried to run up the stairs, but was blocked by a huge man and carried out with her arms pounding on his back.

Ten years later,  Adelle Jones had left the name Wendolyn behind her, along with the innocent teenager she had been.  In the short ten years since the fire, Adelle Jones had become the foremost expert in her country on ghost hunting.  It did not matter how small the job was, or how incredibly tedious.  Adelle would come.  She had no other life but that of a ghost hunter out for revenge.

Each year, she uncovered clues.  On the seventh job this year, she met a ghost that whispered of a leader of ghosts.  It did not impress her until the ghost started to fade and at the last minute muttered "the fire ghost".

Several other ghosts she had recorded that year had mentioned the fire ghost.  She was getting closer!

One day, a gangly young man tripped into her office, spilling coffee all over a map that she had painstakingly marked with ghost sightings of the type that she hoped would reveal the whereabouts of her mysterious fire ghost.

"Watch where you're going!"  

"Sorry.  Had to get to you quickly.  My name is Jack."

"What can I do for you?"  

She picked up her soggy map and sighed.

"I have a job for you if you would not mind leaving right now. "

"I would rather hear about it."

"No. You have got to see the footage I have.  No one will believe me."

"Why didn't you just bring the footage with you?"

"Because the fire is still happening.  I know where the fire ghost is."

"What?  How do you know about that?"

"Ghost Fan Club gossip."

"We'll talk later.  I'm ready."

She grabbed her equipment and they headed to her truck, which was already filled with everything they would need to record the ghost phenomenon.

They drove where Jack indicated and Adelle jerked to a stop in front of a still burning house.  

"We won't be able to get close enough.  This is a nightmare of people standing around gawking!"

"We won't have to get near.  My house is across the street."

Adelle followed Jack inside, where Jack played his footage on his camera.  

"Can you play it on your television or computer screen?"

"Yeah, just a minute."

He plugged everything up and then sat in front of his computer with her.

She leaned in and gasped.  It was the same creature.  It seemed to be looking right through the screen at her with those orange eyes!

"I know where it is."

"What?  What do you mean?"

"I saw where it went when it left the house."

"Where?"

"I get to be a part of the published story."

"Fine.  Just don't get in my way."

"So there is some reason why you are after it."

"It killed my parents."

"Oh. I'm terribly..."

"Stop.  Save it.  Let's go!"

Jack walked upstairs.  

"Why are you going upstairs?  We need to be going."

"I believe you were looking for me?"

That was when Jack turned into the fire ghost before her very eyes.

"I'll bet you never expected me to find you, did you Wendolyn?"

She dashed up the stairs, only to see him vanish before her.  He appeared a moment later when she started exploring the rooms.  She stopped before him.

"Why?  Just tell me why?"

"It was part of an experiment Wendolyn.  You see, ghosts have different levels of materialization, and we all study very hard to reach the ultimate goal, to be able to reach through to a human mind.  That mind was yours.  You created the fire, and also, what form I would come in.  So the only person to blame Wendolyn, is yourself for the creature you see before you!"

"Oh stop.  I am not guilty of anything.  Spare me your explanation."

She lunged at him.  He vanished again.

"So, you are a coward."

He appeared before her and touched her skin, scorching her wrist.  She screamed in pain.

"This is too easy."

"Why are you doing these things?"  

"Because I found out your father experimented on my family.  Oh Wendolyn.  You should see your face right now.  Your father was not a saint.  His experiments on his patients in jails were not the ones that were published.  My mother was one of his experiments.  She developed a horrible side effect.  Pain, scorching pain.  I was born a child affected with a disease that made it impossible for me to ever touch any human being.  So when I died I decided that I would visit your family and they would pay the price.  It is satisfying to see all of the people involved with your father's experiments suffer."

With that he vanished one last time.

It was the last time that Adelle heard her real name spoken for the next twenty years. In that time, she never forgot the fire ghost.  She searched for him, had heard of others that had seen him, but no one would believe her story.  She had no way to prove of his existence, or that he was out to avenge his mother's demise. 

When Adelle was 60 years old, she was swimming in her pool.  The fire ghost came to her then, and started a fire in her home.  She watched it, and then remembered what the fire ghost had said about her creating it. She went to the same therapist that she had seen when she was only fifteen years old.  

"Dr. Llemond, do you remember our session together all those years ago?"

"Yes, I have even recorded it."

"May I listen?"

"If you'd like."

So they sat down to listen.  One part of the conversation startled Adelle.  She heard the doctor say "If there is such a fire ghost, then why doesn't he do something to your father now?"

She motioned to him to stop the recording.

"Why did you specify my father?"

"Why not?  Your father's experiments were controversial then, and now.  He had a lot of enemies."

"Tell me doctor.  Was your wife ever in jail?"

"How do you know that?"

Wendolyn stood up.  

"Your son Jack.  He's the one that did all of this?" 

"My son died when you were only a child."

"Yes, I was a child of five doctor, when you created the fire ghost for your revenge!"

THE END