THE SIGN

Joseph Grumby packed up all of his earthly possessions in the rusty, old, paint splattered van and drove off down the road. He had the talent to be a gifted painter , but had always lacked the drive to succeed .

It was a Dog eat dog world out there and it scared him to think about it.

For twelve long lonely years, Joseph Grumby had made his living as the town sign painter. Hardly inspiring work but it was a living, more or less.. After all, an artist has to suffer for his art, and that,as he was so often want to say, just would never do. Until now that is.

His foot firmly planted on the accelerator he sped off down the road. He was moving on with his life. It was time to pursue a dream.

As the daylight slowly faded, strange shadows engulfed the miles ahead. He was almost at the outskirts of town when he spotted the black cloaked figure walking ponderously down a rocky embankment toward the soft shoulder.

Grumby grunted and coaxed the rickety van up to its highest speed. He was certainly not stopping for some idiot hitch hiker, that was for sure.

He came to a bend in the road, and suddenly the cloaked figure loomed large in his headlights. Instinctively Joseph wrenched on the wheel in a lame attempt to avoid striking the erstwhile pedestrian.

The Van veered violently off the road and shot like an armour piercing bullet into the rock face!

On impact, it erupted in flame, much like the fiery furnace of hell itself. The ghostly apparition glanced long and hard at a sign on the side of the road. Flames licked at its edges, but the words were still clearly legible. It said Slow Down Dangerous Curve Ahead. “Pity, whispered the grim reaper, it was some of his best work.”