AUTHOR'S NOTE Although this book takes place in the year 1984, I have taken fictional liberties with some of the pop culture of the period. So if a character is listening to a song that wasn't popular until months later, keep in mind that it 's a fictional timeline. This is 1984 as I remember it. Your memories--and mileage--may vary. Although many of the Central Pennsylvanian locations in this novel are real, I have taken certain fictional liberties with them. So if you live there, don't look for your church or cemetery. You won't like what you find living beneath them. x “Allah ease thee, O King of the age even as thou hast eased me of these Ghuls, whose bellies none may fill save Allah!” --Alf Laylah wa Laylah, or The Thousand Nights and a Night Translated by Sir Richard F. Burton, 19th century Prologue Pat Kemp had his T-shirt off before he'd even closed the car door behind him. The night's breeze brushed against his back.
