The man stood at the crossroads—waiting. Box of magical artifacts freshly buried at his feet; paper of hastily scrawled voodoo clutched in his sweating left palm.

Here we go again, I thought as I approached.

The man’s knees quaked as he told me, “I’d like to make a deal.”

CM Toolson lives in Washington state with her husband and ferocious tabby cat named Mudballs.