Knuckles & Braeburn: Prologue
From the first draft of my novel, Knuckles & Braeburn: The Case of the Cursed Bonanza
Just beyond the cemetery gates, cloaked in a deep-blue darkness, a solitary light bobbled.
It dotted the path that wound through pillars and headstones, the black silhouettes of trees lingering in the distance.
The light, of course, came from the lantern of Old Man Higgins. Cloaked and bearded, he shuffled along the winding path on his weekly visit to his dearly departed—his lost dachshund, Fifi.
The old man grumbled to himself as he always did, eyes darting this way and that. Finally, he arrived at the headstone: an elaborate portrait of Fifi engraved in the stone, surrounded by garlands and bones.
“Gone too soon,” he said to himself with great anguish. But just then, something flickered off in the distance—a light.
“Who’s over there!” he grumbled. Conspicuously, the light came from the headstone of the recently deceased Mayor of Thistlewood. Beloved by all, she too, was gone before her time.
“Hey!” he shouted, “you get away from there, you kids! You let Mayor Muckwood rest in peace!”
But as he got closer, the lights vanished.
“That’s right!” he said, “how dare you disturb the grave of our great mayor!” Then he grumbled to himself, “lousy kids probably vandalized it.”
But when he arrived at the grave, he saw, to his horror, that instead of a freshly packed plot of dirt, there was a big ditch where the mayor’s coffin was meant to be. And when he looked up, a bright flash of light, making the graveyard spin and swirl. And then, all was black.
A thrilling beginning!
What curious happenings will transpire next?
Meet the titular heroes of this yarn in Chapter One!