A Slip of Wormwood by Heather S. Ingemar

The Echelon Press e-book, A Slip of Wormwood, is a parable on greed and what consequences may come of it. Heather S. Ingemar tells the story of a man after the death of his brother. The man is nicknamed Mr. Frog (not, mind you, Mr. Toad a la The Wind in the Willows) because of his repulsive and disgusting nature and resemblance to a frog: his preternaturally long fingers and spindly hands, crooked knees, and a narrow, saturnine face—all overused items in the catalogue of mad, twisted characters. And his brother is a fat, good-humored man whom he called the Toad, and whose shadow he can never escape, the eternal favorite of their mother.

The story begins with the death of the Toad, after which Mr. Frog inherits the family manor. Frog, who always despised his younger brother because of his inherent goodness, becomes enraptured—not necessarily by the manor of his parents, but for the fact that he now owns it, a thing to be cherished and then put away—but his thing, nonetheless.

It would be better, naturally, if he didn’t see his dead brother all over the manor, which he decries as absurd with his own absurd logic: “And besides. He hadn’t had his evening tea yet,” a statement which further indicates his selfishness and avarice. But truly, he is already afraid of what his dead brother may have in store for him in that lonely manor.

Alas, we already know how it’s going to end, so the ending comes as no surprise. While I don’t think every short story needs to feature a surprise ending, and if this tale is aimed at a younger audience, then it’s a good one indeed. But if not, the author missed the chance of making this a good, old fashioned, terrifying Dickensian cautionary tale.

Publisher: Echelon Press (Aug. 2007)
Price: $1.50
E-book: 22 pages
ISBN: 1-590-80-585-4