While everyone else worries about holiday shopping, all I can think about is ghosts. Spooky, cold-breath-on-your-neck ghosts! Madison and her Hand may just have met their match. After all, how do you kill someone who is already dead? Watch for number four in the Hand of Magic series, set for release in January. Stay tuned for updates, and turn on all the lights in the house!

A few days ago, I saw a FB post from our local sandwich shop. They planned on taking sandwiches to the homeless this afternoon and they asked for additional volunteers. I thought, "Sure, why not?" So after lunch today, I filled up a backpack with baggies of dog food and headed to the shop. The shopkeepers are lovely people, and thirty simple sandwiches later, we headed to the underpass of the Jefferson Street Bridge. The sun shone and I patted myself on the back for helping those less fortunate than most.

Today happened to be "shower day." Minutes after we arrived at the empty parking lot, it filled with people and activity. A huge truck pulled up with portable showers. Two young girls, not quite in their teens, assisted their family by ordering strangers around with more skill than a battlefield general. Clean towels, bars of soap, and toothbrushes were handed out to those on the list for hot showers. People appeared from tents, cars, and under tarps. Our sandwiches - and the dog food - vanished in five minutes.

Someone else drove up with donuts and coffee, both of which were gone faster than the sandwiches. Cheese and peanut butter crackers came next and were eaten in a flash. No one took the food or coffee and left with it - everything was consumed right there as if no one wanted to risk waiting an additional five minutes to eat.

I did not see one cellphone. No one asked me my name or introduced themselves to me. No one cared where I worked, what I drove, or whether I voted red or blue. Some people met my eyes, others did not. Everyone was polite. I had thought I would feel good about myself when I left, but instead I felt unsettled. I should have brought more dog food, blankets, something.

Do I do enough to help others? Probably not. The reasons for homelessness go beyond politics, religion, or any simple explanation I can put in writing. I hope my experience today will make me more open to helping others in the future. Maybe tomorrow when you and I go into work and complain about traffic, we can try to be a little kinder to those around us. The distance between myself and the people I helped today is frighteningly short.

In the meantime, I will dress my dog in a ridiculous Halloween costume. I will celebrate peppermint-flavored coffee. I will be grateful that I can do these things, while I work on being better about donating time and money when I can. Thank goodness putting my dog in a dress and donating to people - or animals - are not exclusive. Tell me, how do you work toward making a difference?

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What makes a story frightening? Is the above photo one of a peaceful night in a quiet town, or a crime-scene about to happen? 

I have begun work on the next book in my Hand of Magic series, titled "Ghosts." This has brought me to ask myself - what terrifies people? Not as in politics and who is President, or whether you will be able to pay your child's college tuition, but what would you cross the street to avoid? A clown...a cemetery...or maybe just a dark area where the streetlamp has burned out?

Years ago I was with my co-workers in our old office building. As we stood talking in a hallway, we witnessed the doorknob on a closed (and locked) door turn right/left, right/left. Puzzled, we entered the small room, but found it empty. As we returned to the hallway and stared at the re-locked door, the doorknob again turned right/left, right/left. The door itself did not move and a re-check of the office found it to still be empty. All this time later, I have never been able to explain what we witnessed. Here's the interesting thing - I was not frightened as I watched the doorknob move on its own. Maybe because I was with friends and it was the middle of the day, but I did not have any fear of whatever caused the motions.

Contrast that with my donut run a year ago. My favorite 24/hour donut drive-through is one exit from my home, and I frequently hit the drive-through at odd hours. Last winter I headed into work especially early because of an upcoming ice-storm. Other than a truck-stop, the area is rural, with woods behind the shop. Focused on my peppermint coffee and glazed donut, I pulled way from the drive-through and stopped my car behind the building so I could situate my coffee and put away my wallet. 

Once I stuffed my wallet into my purse, I glanced around me to make sure I was not blocking any traffic. I realized there was no one around me and I had stopped my car closer to the woods than usual. The single streetlamp lit up my car, but it did not spread to the trees on my right. As I sat in my car, coffee in hand and heater cranked up, I became certain something was wrong. This was not a good place or a good time. From one breath to another, I was inexplicably afraid. Without thought, I took my foot off the brake and gunned it - luckily there were no cars nearby. Once on the road, I laughed at myself and cleaned up my spilled coffee. Of course, it was just my stress with the upcoming storm which had put me on edge, right? I continue to tell myself that, but when I go through the same drive-through after-hours, I do not stop behind the building. Ever. 

So as I begin writing my ghost story, tell me what you think makes a scary story - maybe even share a story of your own in the comments below!