The Rain Dancers Greg F Gifune

Will and Betty have arrived at her late father Earle’s house to arrange for the property to be cleared and the contents sorted prior to its imminent sale. As they set about the sad task and as Betty reacquaints herself with her childhood there is a knock at the door......”After a slight hesitation, I opened the door. “Come in.”...”Much obliged.” He stepped inside, bringing a gust of wind and a spray of rain with him. “Great Gosh Almighty, nasty night out there, isn’t it?”...”Quite a rain,” I said. He made sure the storm door closed and latched behind him. “Apologize for showing up announced like this,” he said, “but when I heard Earl had passed I felt it only right to stop in and pay you and your lovely bride my respects.”

Thus the reader is introduced to the deeply disturbed, overtly friendly and thoroughly evil “good ole southern boy” Bob Laurent. Greg F Gifune has done a wonderful job of introducing a seemingly harmless, friendly stranger and yet from the moment we meet him his evil intent is apparent. “The inexplicable fear I’d initially felt had subsided, but in its wake was an equally baffling sense of unease.” It is this growing fear and the knowledge that something terrible is about to befall Will and Betty that makes The Rain Dancers such an unforgettable experience. I read with such a sense of foreboding and fear as I waited for the fate of Will and Betty to be decided...

The reason for Laurent’s visit and the unravelling of Betty Colby’s past come together in an explosive and brilliant conclusion making this one of the best short novellas I have ever read. Greg F Gifune is a writer of such emotive and descriptive power and this short story as a showcase for his undoubted writing talent.