Here’s the first Monday installment of my regular reading schedule.

Today, we continue Possum Hollow. The first chapter, Missing Siblings, is a partial run-down of information regarding the Brown family of Possum Hollow. It’s decided that Tricia and her husband, Glenn need to go to the hollow to speak with Sally Brown – the woman Tricia met at the cemetery at the top of the hollow.

The second chapter, The Smokehouse, details Tricia and Glenn’s visit to see Sally at the farm house on Possum Hollow Road. The reason for the chapter title becomes apparent soon after the chapter starts.

Part of the imagery of Sally’s house comes from a visit I had years ago while working in Chillicothe, Ohio for the local newspaper. One of the carriers I was in charge of had trouble collecting from one particular customer. I went to the person’s house and found pretty much what Tricia and Glenn found at the house in Possum Hollow, complete with the pall of cigarette smoke and the overflowing ash trays. The owner of the house was real nice – and ended up pulling out a wad of bills to pay for a year’s worth of newspapers. What is missing from the story I’m telling in this week’s installment is the fact that the man I met in person had a total of five toes on both feet. My favorite quote from the man was listening to him tell about how what amounted to a tar-paper shack with dirt floors was the best house he ever lived in. “My last house burned down to the ground,” he told me.

I found it hard to keep a straight face.

Thursday, we will be meeting one of the two worst liars in all of Fuller County, Ohio in one of my favorite chapters – Faith Healing Appliances.

In the meantime, enjoy: