Old Man Scratch

Book excerpt: Johnny Gregson moved to the country to enjoy the quiet of his twilight years, but it seems he's got two problems. The first is the roadkill. His neighbour—Hill "Scratch" Clayton—is the second. Scratch is a hard-edged old man and a creature of habit. He mows his lawn at first light every morning, and the sound of the John Deere's engine always wakes Johnny and his wife from their brittle sleep. Come winter the ride-on mower is replaced by Scratch's snowblower. Johnny tries to reason with him, but Scratch is set in his ways. There is no compassion in his soul. After Johnny's world is turned upside down, he is compelled to take drastic action. He thinks he knows a way to silence Scratch forever. For six years he has been scraping dead animals from his driveway and tossing them to the side of the road, and for six years they have disappeared within a day or two. He often asks himself, what happens to the roadkill? Just where does it go? Old Man Scratch is a revenge story that is often touching, often humorous, but always bound by the unknown … the inexplicable fear of what man is capable of, and the darkness of his heart.