TALE WITHOUT TAIL

Audiobook Excerpt

On Fern Street, in a quiet corner of suburbia, Claire Emerson stood at the edge of her ruined garden, wrapped in a bathrobe and disbelief. Storms had ravaged the yard, scattering branches across wilted blooms and leaving puddles where her rosebush once stood. A few petals clung stubbornly to broken stems, but most had been beaten into the mud. Near the gate she noticed a battered squeaky ball half-buried in the soil.

Later that morning, the doorbell rang. A polished woman stood on the porch with a bright smile.

“Hi, I’m Sandy,” she said. “My husband and I are the neighborhood real estate agents. If you ever think about selling, we’d be happy to help.”

Claire glanced past her toward the garden.

“Looks like you’ve had a rough season out here,” Sandy added, handing over a card before walking away.

Back inside, Claire stood in the kitchen a moment longer than necessary. Then she went to the closet and changed into her work clothes.

The garden waited.

She stepped outside and began clearing the debris—broken branches, overturned pots, damp leaves. The work moved slowly, almost mechanically, as if she were rearranging the mess rather than fixing it.

Near the fence she paused. For a moment she had the strange impression of something moving beside her, like a dog pacing along the path.

That afternoon, while digging near the spot where the rosebush had once grown, she uncovered a small dried dog dropping half-buried in the dirt. Claire set down the broom and went back inside, leaving the garden unfinished.

On the mantel in the living room stood a photograph of Suzie—mid-leap, ears lifted, body tilted toward something unseen.

Claire opened her laptop and began to type…