Celebrating National Black Cat Month with 13 Days of Halloween
Dancing in the Shadows: A Tribute to Anne Rice [https://amzn.to/40g2LRn] edited by Elaine Pascale and Rebecca Rowland [from Yuriko Publishing] will be free on Kindle from Wednesday, October 25, 2023 to Sunday, October 29, 2023. If you download the book and read to the end, money is earned for the Animal Rescue of New Orleans.
100% of all proceeds from sales and Kindle Page Reads goes to ARNO as a tribute to Anne Rice. It was the shelter she loved, and she frequently donated to their rescue cats program. Everyone donated their stories, editing, art and more for this project. Cover and interior art by Jeanette Andromeda.
Authors include: C.W. Blackwell, Morgan Sylvia, Greg Herren, Holly Rae Garcia, Douglas Ford, Kristi Petersen Schoonover, Gordon B. White, Tim Mendees, Stephanie Ellis, Scotty Milder, Holley Cornetto, Lamont A. Turner, KC Grifant, Lee Andrew Forman, Anthony S. Buoni, Trish Wilson, Angela Yuriko Smith, Christine Lajewski and E. F. Schraeder.
“The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe pt 10
For a purpose such as this the cellar was well adapted. Its walls were loosely constructed, and had lately been plastered throughout with a rough plaster, which the dampness of the atmosphere had prevented from hardening. Moreover, in one of the walls was a projection, caused by a false chimney, or fireplace, that had been filled up, and made to resemble the red of the cellar. I made no doubt that I could readily displace the bricks at this point, insert the corpse, and wall the whole up as before, so that no eye could detect any thing suspicious. And in this calculation I was not deceived.
By means of a crow-bar I easily dislodged the bricks, and, having carefully deposited the body against the inner wall, I propped it in that position, while, with little trouble, I re-laid the whole structure as it originally stood. Having procured mortar, sand, and hair, with every possible precaution, I prepared a plaster which could not be distinguished from the old, and with this I very carefully went over the new brickwork. When I had finished, I felt satisfied that all was right. The wall did not present the slightest appearance of having been disturbed. The rubbish on the floor was picked up with the minutest care. I looked around triumphantly, and said to myself, ‘Here at least, then, my labor has not been in vain.’
My next step was to look for the beast which had been the cause of so much wretchedness; for I had, at length, firmly resolved to put it to death. Had I been able to meet with it, at the moment, there could have been no doubt of its fate; but it appeared that the crafty animal had been alarmed at the violence of my previous anger, and forebore to present itself in my present mood. It is impossible to describe, or to imagine, the deep, the blissful sense of relief which the absence of the detested creature occasioned in my bosom. It did not make its appearance during the night, and thus for one night at least, since its introduction into the house, I soundly and tranquilly slept; aye, slept even with the burden of murder upon my soul!
Part 10 of 12 to be continued tomorrow…
