Dave's Anatomy: My History as a Writer, #21: "The Grave of Cindy Darner"

I published two stories in Horror Through the Ages. The second one was "The Grave of Cindy Darner." I don't write cowboy or "old West" fiction a lot—in fact, this was the only cowboy-style story I think I've ever written (I watched too many Westerns as a kid). But it came as a unique idea. Once more, it is "soft horror," not "dark horror." Horrific and terrible things happen, and the supernatural elements are threatening, but in the end it works out for the best. Justice and good ultimately triumph over dark forces.

Once in class I asked my students what characterized Westerns. They said, horses, gunfights, saloons, shoot-out's, and, one student commented, "Always going to hang someone." Cindy Darner is a woman who is abused by her husband and decides to take matters in hand. She kills him and disguises the murder to make it look like someone from one of the native tribes in the area did it. Her ruse fails, however. She is charged with murder, breaks down in courtroom and confesses her crime. The townspeople are sympathetic. They know her husband beat and abused her and think she should get a prison term, but the judge sentences her to death. She will die by hanging.

After she goes to her death, complications arise. Executed criminals are usually thrown into a grave with no coffin and no rites. One of the women in town, however, who is sympathetic to Cindy, thinks she should have a decent burial and buys her a pine box. Another faction that is more critical of her objects. They can't prevent her being buried in a coffin, but they keep her out of the town cemetery. She is buried underneath the hanging tree outside of town where the bodies of other executed criminals lie.

Soon her ghost appears. At first she is seen by the town drunk, so the story is dismissed, but eventually more "respectable" people see her. The woman who bought her a coffin, Millie Browne, sees her and is able to speak with her. Cindy says the murderers buried all around her are trying to get to her. At night, they kick at her coffin and threaten her. She is somehow able to keep them at bay, but feels they will eventually break into her coffin and abuse her. She asks Millie what to do.

Millie is frustrated, thinks Cindy truly repented, and does not know why she can't go on her rest. Cindy asks what God wants her to do. Millie doesn't know and asks Cindy if she has any idea of what she needs to do. "I need to do justice," she says. "That's all I know." Millie can't help her and Cindy says she will resign herself to her fate and go to hell like Elsa Towner said she would. Elsa has tormented and vilified Cindy, saying she will go to hell for her crime. Millie tells Cindy how the bible says anger and slander are just as serious as murder. Cindy seems to respond to this, nods, and fades away.

The next day, Elsa is found dead, her heart crushed. Cindy appears again to Millie and says she did justice. No one has bothered her since and she can go on to her reward. With Elsa gone, Cindy's coffin is exhumed. It is battered, people note, as if someone were trying to break into it. She is reburied in the town cemetery with the epigraph from the bible (chosen by Millie), The Lord bless thee, O habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness. Jeremiah 31:23.

In my horror, as always, the dark forces do not win. They are not supreme. Cindy goes to her reward, whatever that may be. Elsa, who represents hatred and judgmental bias, is killed (by the way, I blatantly stole the heart-crushing scene from Stephen King's Carrie—but everyone from Homer to Shakespeare could tell you authors use other authors' material). Cindy Darner is vindicated. Her wrongdoing (it is wrong to murder someone) is paid for, but that payment is sufficient. No need for further punishment. And justice needs to be done—one last good deed. And is done.

Horror Through the Ages is available in print form. It contains a number of excellent stories from various periods of history.

This month, I am promoting my novella, ShadowCity. Scott's girlfriend, Jimena, is the guardian of a parallel world ("all related to string theory," she tells him). He follows her there. But her first act upon arriving in that world is to buy a slave; soon she tortures a woman who has betrayed her. Something is not right, Scott senses. Perhaps the darkness is starting to seep into Jimena's soul as well.

Check out my Writer's Page for further titles.

I would love to hear your comments.