The Undertaker's Tale (5.5)

The Undertaker’s Tale

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Part of the Refuge Collection Noel Osualdini

Copyrights

‘The Undertaker’s Tale’

© Copyright Noel Osualdini

Artwork: A Hearse in the Parade

by Will Jacques © 2016

All other art and text © Copyright Steve Dillon

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be re-sold or given away to other people.

Please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.

All author and publisher proceeds go to:

Sanctuary Australia Foundation (http://www.sanctuaryaustraliafoundation.org.au)

"For over 25 years, Sanctuary has sponsored, provided interest-free travel loans, and resettled Government approved humanitarian entrant refugees, helping them to rebuild their lives in Australia from war zones around the world. Sanctuary is an award winning organisation,

run with the utmost integrity."

The Refuge Collection

Heaven to Some, Hell to Others

Volume 1: First Tales from Refuge

1.1 The Empath’s Tale (by Steve Dillon) introduced us to the town of Refuge. It introduced The Refuge Reporter (aka The Refuse), the Refuge Herring Cannery and other key places, as well as some of its important citizens, notably the empath Joe Dolan, who woke with ‘a headful of hornets’, a sure sign that something ‘big’ and wholly unnatural was about to happen. Joe attended the funeral of a murdered local girl and the hornets returned as the funeral procession, led by Father Millar, passed him by.

To add to his troubles, Joe’s wife disappeared from a cruise ship and, though he feared she may have been abducted, he was running out of places to search. He thought he spotted her getting intimate with his enigmatic and unruly brother, but when he looked again, Frank was alone. Frank had to suddenly leave the country on business, and Joe discovered that a local artist had captured a sketch of his wife and brother together.

He finally headed to the Blue Frog Tavern to drown his sorrows.

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1.2 The Wrong Path (by Steve Dillon) is set in Causeway, a small tourist spot close to Refuge. Perry Johannsen went for what he thought would be a ‘walk in the park’ to avoid the murdered girl’s funeral and a possible confrontation with his boyfriend’s ex-wife. Lost in thoughts amid memories of a strange, supernatural event he’d shared with his lover, Perry was led astray by a shadow, or a cat… or something. Obsessed and frustrated, he finally regretted the path he’d chosen.

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1.3 The Fighter’s Tale (by Steve Dillon) is a Lovecraftian tale about family ties, ambition, corruption and escape. A young prize-winning martial artist attempts to flee his homeland on an illegal asylum seekers’ boat. He ends up adrift in the ocean. Left with another fight on his hands, he has to confront his past and his present before realising that refuge has been there all