Salvage (42 page)

Owen nodded. "I think I can," he said.

The two of them turned their gaze to Lori's grave, just a six foot plot of drying grass and a fancy stone in the earth. A smile crept across Gerald's lips as they stood there. Owen watched him for a long moment, the old man's ginger comb-over ruffling in the strong wind.

He faced his sister's grave. Then he looked up, beyond the uneven rows of stones and the whispering oaks. Owen Saddler, forty years old, looked up at the wide blue sky, and smiled.

Thank you
for taking a chance on this book! I hope you've discovered some treasure within its pages, even if it's just this Thank You.

As always, I owe a lot to the first readers, without whose help there would be many more errors than you may have found. Thank you, Sherri Catt, for giving me a home filled with encouragement and inspiration, and just generally being you. Thank you, Josh Silver, for reading the first draft and helping me with some technical stuff (any persistent technical errors or incorrect jargon are the fault of the author). Thank you, Thomas S. Flowers, for looking at the book before it was ready to be judged, and offering kind words. Thank you, Mom and Dad, for reading just about every word I've ever written, even the boring stuff. And thank you, Bill Campbell, for your editorial advice, and for sticking with me—and the book—during the storm.

I began writing
Salvage
during a time of deep depression, and finished it during a prolonged period of happiness. Often, I found it difficult plunging back into the darkness without bringing a little of that darkness back up with me. Here is my disclaimer: No one person's depression defines another's. This book was never meant to be an entirely accurate representation of mental disorders or mental illness. It is a work of fiction, and any inaccuracies were for the benefit (I hope) of the story.

May the clouds pass you all without dumping too much rain. Unless you're into that.

Duncan Ralston was born in Toronto in 1976, and spent his teens in small-town Ontario. As a "grown-up," Duncan lives with his girlfriend and their dog in Toronto, where he writes dark fiction about the things that disturb him. His twisted short stories can be found in
Gristle & Bone
,
The Black Room Manuscripts
, and
The Animal
.

For more from Duncan Ralston, including exclusive updates, free books, and periodic contests, please join him at his official website, The Fold (
duncanralston.com
), on
facebook.com/duncanralstonfiction
, and on
twitter.com/userbits
.

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