Short Story September: Closing Time by Neil Gaiman (and a wee nod to some bloggers BBAW style).

I think I love Neil Gaiman more and more everytime I read him. I just read this fantastic story while lolling in the bath and had to come and say a few words about it.

Closing time is another of Neil Gaiman's stories within a story. He starts out talking about an old club in London, one damp and misty night, 3 men are sitting in the bar recounting ghost stories, when the narrator announces he has a story of his own to tell:
"I'll tell you a true story, if you like. It's a story I've never told a living soul. It's true - it happened to me, not to a friend of mine - but I don't know if it's a ghost story. It probably isn't."

The story is about his childhood, and a meeting with a group of boys, possibly brothers, who seem out to spoil his innocent childhood. They show his naked pictures, tell him dirty jokes and teach him how to swear. Then one day they take him to the gardens of an abandoned, but very neatly kept, old house. In the garden there is a mock tudor playhouse. Its this playhouse that becomes the place of mystery and suspense, a dare leads to an unexplainable event, one the narrator fears he will never know the answer to.
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BBAW kicks off with an opportunity to let everyone know what your favorite blogs are and why. I'm going to name 3, all three contain great reviews of books that I'm interested in, interesting comments and they seem to make great challenge participants. I often visit these blogs looking for reviews and recommendations as they seem to be spot on, and match my taste. They are
A Striped Armchair
An Adventure in Reading
B&b ex libris