The Perfect Shade of Haint Blue

Heeding the Signs

Mark Hersch enjoys a busy summer in his favorite place: with his grandparents in Hartstown, Virginia.

Working, saving for college, learning to drive. Getting to know his family and himself.

Then one job brings a shiver of warning.

Will Mark and his Papaw recognize the danger before it's too late?

A Voices Through Time Story

Also available in the collection Stepping Out of Reality: Short Spells of Appalachian Magic

An excerpt from The Perfect Shade of Haint Blue:

Learning to Heed Those Strange Warnings

Mark frowned, but a quick little thrill of excitement shot through his belly.

The change of pace and scenery was doing him a world of good, especially since he was considering coming right back to Virginia for college in a couple of years.

But he wouldn't mind a bit of mystery and adventure to spice things up.

"Did something strange happen there, Papaw? At the Hartsock place?"

"Well no, I can't exactly say that. It's just... I got an uneasy twinge about you going there is all."

Mark's father and everyone else in the family often talked about Papaw's twinges, and hunches, and notions, and even dreams. No one ever made much of a fuss about it that Mark could tell.

But they never mentioned thinking those twinges were something it was better to ignore, either.