Being Dead

A collection of short stories. The first one is about a 16-year-old girl named Brenda who has (to her) a very annoying younger brother, Danny. Their family has just moved to the country. Her parents have gone back to their old house to pick up things. Fairly standard.

Except for the phone ringing and someone saying “Help me” to Brenda, even though the phone is not connected. Then there's the problem of a hand coming out of a pond that's barely two feet deep. And Brenda's clothes being thrown on the floor, but not by her brother. It's the ghost of a young girl, a young girl that Brenda had killed, but without realizing it.

The second story is quite short and concerns a miserly and mean man and his recently-dead wife who still wants to dance.

The third story is about a father and son who disagree about the Vietnam War. The son goes (against his own verbal position) to the war and is killed. He seems to have come back to drive the father crazy.

The fourth story is a very short one but quite unexpectedly funny.

The fifth story is almost like an urban-legend-type of story. It's extremely good.

The sixth story is about a girl named Emily who is 16 and who is dying from a brain tumor. She works at a historical recreation park and spots a ghost while working. At first the ghost doesn't realize that he is really a ghost. The story is very good but very sad.

The last story is a very moving one about a newspaper boy (1930) who dies and goes after his boss who was trying to cheat him out of his money, money that the boy's mother needs badly.

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