Offprint

"OFFPRINT" - Ron Koppelberger

The array was plainly visible. There were three happy smiling faces in the photograph. Nash and Phil Trumble sheepishly holding up a huge flounder and Yervan Talan with an outstretched can of beer. The photograph was tinted in an array of rainbow colors.

Nash recoiled and sputtered, “What the hell is that?”

“I don’t know,” Phil replied, “maybe it’s a ghost.” The picture showed several ethereal clouds in vague yet distinctly human form stretching in tendrils away from their heads. Yervan offered the explanation that the photo lab had probably made a mistake.

The brothers had gone fishing with Yervan near an abandoned saw mill. Several years prior a young couple and their child had gone missing near the sawmill common. They were rumored to have drowned in the Prosper Quagmire. There were alligators and the swamp was a selfish keeper of secrets.

The snarl of jungle hammock and scrub brush had been thrashed and searched by dozens of volunteers and the police, to no avail.

Later the brothers would take the picture to a local psychic who promptly led them to the abandoned saw mill. They discovered the bodies beneath the wood planking of the mill floor.

Later in the week they were featured in the Hammock Tribune. The story was titled “SAW MILL REVELATION!”

Yervan bought ten copies of the paper for his friends and family and the Trumble brothers received a plaque from the local sheriff. Phil popped the top on a cold one along with Nash and Yervan.

“Here’s to ghosts.” he said smiling.

“To ghosts.” they said in return.

BIO: Ron is aspiring to become established as a poet and a short story writer. He has had acceptances from England, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Thailand. His art is viewable here. Ron hopes you enjoy his work.