Dean Koontz

I joined Twitter recently and I really love it.  I don’t know why I haven’t tried it earlier.  I think it can be very beneficial to my writing career.  I did learn quite early, however, that I need to watch what I say.

I follow several established writers.  One of these writers is Dean Koontz.  One day I posted a comment to him.  I said that I thought he and Stephen King should have a duel to the death.  I was kidding, of course.  I even said I thought Mr. King could take him even though he was somewhat older.  I thought it was a funny comment and didn’t think much of it.

It was two days later when I spotted a black limousine parked at the curb outside my house.  My first thought was that it was Publisher’s Clearing House coming to tell me that I had won.  But when I stepped outside onto the porch to investigate the car took off.  I was very disappointed.  I really could have used the money.

That evening I had gone to Walmart to throw away some of my money.  When I came out of the store I saw that same limousine taking off.  I thought that was unusual, but not as much as what I saw when I got to my car.  There sitting on the hood of my car was a Dean Koontz book.  Watchers.  The word on the cover was highlighted in yellow.  Something told me then that something was wrong.

When I got back home I saw scraps of something strewn across my front lawn.  It was paper.  I figured some neighborhood kids must have thrown their trash in my yard.  Maybe I had ticked some kid off because I wouldn’t give him his baseball back after it had gone through my window.  On closer inspection I saw that it was the ripped and torn pages of a book.  Actually more than one book.  And then it hit me.  I felt cold shivers run down my spine.  These were the pages from two of Stephen King’s books.

I ran back into the house.  I didn’t leave for two days.  I didn’t get on the Internet at all.  It was several days before I felt safe again.  Since then there have been no more instances, and I have learned my lesson.