A child is declared dead but her parents believe otherwise, a teenage boy is hunted for his precious body parts, a professor violates his own code of ethics for fame, an abandoned house wreaks havoc on a neighborhood family, an incinerated reptile mentors a human being, a deceased mother confronts her son to right a wrong, an elderly couple scheme to cheat the grim reaper, and a widow struggles with the weeping photograph of a girl whose death she has witnessed. These are a few of the unusual themes in this strange and compelling collection by this consummate storyteller.