Plantation Shudders Read Online Free PDF

day’s activities. Hal Clabber never said a word, and welcome as his silence was, Maggie began to wonder if something might be wrong with him. Gran’ also seemed to notice the change in his behavior.
    “Mr. Clabber, you’re awfully quiet tonight,” she said. The man responded with a grunt.
    “Hal’s not feeling great,” Beverly explained. “The humidity here really gets to him.”
    “Why don’t we have our liqueurs in the front parlor?” Gran’ suggested. “It’s a bit cooler there.”
    “Thanks, but we need to get our boys to bed,” Carrie Ryker said. Her sons groaned and protested, while their sister snarked her refrain about how embarrassing her entire family was.
    “And if it’s okay, we’re gonna take it to our room,” Shane Butler said. Emily entwined her fingers with her husband’s. The couple’s lust for each other was starting to annoy Maggie, who wouldn’t have admitted to her best friend that it had been more than a year since she’d even made out with someone.
    The Rykers and Butlers took off, and the Crozats herded the rest of the guests into the front parlor. The storm was moving closer to Pelican, with less and less time between lightning strikes and thunder booms. Maggie could tell that some of the guests were feeling jittery. After about fifteen minutes of forced small talk, all conversation petered out. Maggie chose a soothing classical playlist from the bed and breakfast’s iPod, hoping it would distract everyone, but with the storm practically on top of Crozat, even she felt edgy.
    “It’s not a hurricane, is it?” Suzy asked after a particularly loud boom.
    “No, just a typical summer storm,” Tug said with a reassuring smile. Suddenly, a fierce crackle and loud explosion of sound made everyone jump, and Crozat wentcompletely dark. The room filled with chatter from the nervous guests.
    “It’s okay, we have a generator. It’ll come on any minute,” Maggie called to everyone. But the generator didn’t come on, and the guests stumbled around in the dark.
    “Dad, what’s wrong?” she asked as Tug pulled out backup flashlights that she quickly distributed.
    “I don’t know. I’ll go take a look.” Tug left to check on the generator while Ninette and Gran’ helped the guests with their flashlights. Georgia One held his under his chin and made a face.
    “Arghgh, I’m a zombie.”
    “Dude, that’s awesome,” Georgia Two said as he and Three broke out laughing.
    “Stop it, that’s not funny,” Jan snapped.
    “Arghggh.”
    “I said stop it.”
    “That wasn’t me, I swear,” Georgia One replied. Maggie flashed her light around the guests and finally landed on Hal Clabber, whose face was purple and hideously distorted. Angela and Suzy screamed, as did Hal’s wife Beverly.
    “Hal!”
    “Arghgh,” Hal choked out. Then his eyes rolled to the back of his head, an enormous shudder engulfed his body, and he did a face plant to the floor.
    “Everyone, out of the way,” Kyle ordered the others, who drew back but didn’t leave the room, frozen in either fear or fascination. Kyle dropped to his knees, flipped Hal over, and began performing CPR.
    Maggie grabbed the phone and dialed 911. “Help! I’m calling from Crozat, we have a very sick guest.”
    “Tug, Tug!” Ninette yelled to her husband, who raced back into the house. Moments later, an ambulance roared up to the front of Crozat. Two EMTs ran in and took over from Kyle, but it became clear that lifesaving measures were unnecessary because there was no life to save.
    “Hal, Hal!” Mrs. Clabber cried. She grabbed Maggie and drew blood as she dug her long nails into Maggie’s wrist. “My pills, in my purse, I need my pills.”
    Being that Beverly was the kind of woman who never strayed too far from her handbag, it was dangling from a purse holder she’d attached to a nearby lamp table. Maggie fumbled through it and pulled out bottles of Xanax, Zoloft, and Abilify. No wonder she’s always smiling,