Lendle

(Novel is 60,000 words)

Strange happenings occur in an idyllic town of Douglasville, Iowa. Oskar Schmidt, proprietor of the Schmidt Funeral Home is involved in nefarious activities related to his mysterious past in World War II Germany. Decadent and greedy, Schmidt operates unchecked in this macabre thriller until he meets a former dancer who comes to town from Chicago. If you like gritty dialogue, supernatural suspense and strong women you are sure to enjoy this new novel by Terry L. Hall.

_____

“Hey Ralf, what was Nam like?” Andy asks.

“It was a real shit hole, hot, wet, bugs, snakes, pure hell”, Ralf replies.

“You ever kill anybody?” Andy asks.

Looking over at Andy, Ralf stares for a moment. “Killing a person is personal. It’s the most personal thing there is except maybe killing yourself. People don’t talk about it. Some guys never talk about it ever. They don’t tell anybody what they’ve done. Not their wife, not their kids. It’s locked away permanent. You know what I mean?” Ralf says as he points to his head.

“The worst thing is the fucking nightmares. You live it all, over and over, again and again. You can be lying in your bed one minute, all warm and comfy, the next thing you know you’re back in Nam ass-deep in the jungle, sweating like a motherfucker. The smell of gunpowder and burning flesh hangs in the air.

Could you ever think about your dad the same way if you knew that he shot four people sitting in a grass hut, point blank, while they fucking sat there and cried? Is that a picture you want in your head? Ever see that look on and old vets face, like he’s someplace else? That’s where he’s at. You can’t lose it. You bury it, again and again.

One moment you’re a smartass kid from Iowa in the jungle. Then all of a sudden you got some gook in front of you with something under his coat. You got a split second to decide if you blow his head off or let him blow himself and you to kingdom fucking come.

Grunts kill men, women, children, even goats. Fucking goats, can you imagine that? Pull the trigger on your M16 and you mow the whole fucking yard. The noise, the smell, death, it engulfs you like quicksand. The only question to answer is can you get out with your ass in one piece.”

Looking over at Andy, Ralf says “I’ve seen the face of pure evil standing in front of me.”

____

"Listen honey, I easily make a $500 to $1000 a week. Hell, one year I made over $40,000. Can you believe that? $40,000 for shaking my butt in a G-string.

Sure, I went topless, I mean you have to show something. It’s all about fantasy. That guy isn’t stuffing 5’s and 10’s in your garter for what he’s getting. He’s stuffing that hard earned cash for his imagination."

Dark as the Heart is the conclusion of the Douglasville story. It includes the original Short Stories, rewritten for the novel, as well as all new, never released material for the second half of the story.