Excerpt: QUITTING THE HERO BIZ, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 6

 "I have never been so happy to be the Ghost in my entire life," she grumbled as she tossed the newspaper down in front of Beau and Demetrius less than an hour later.

Beau smoothed it out on the desk the size of a small swimming pool while Demetrius settled down in his easy chair in front of the massive fireplace big enough to roast an entire cow. One drawback to their Gifted longevity was feeling chilled even in the muggy warmth of summer. Jane used just enough Ghost field to let her get close to the roaring fire without dripping in sweat.

The headline read: "Fendersburg Uses Samaritan Law to Sue Ghost." Jane snorted as she glanced over the big, black letters in slightly runny ink. The complaints lodged against the Ghost, her alternate persona, were printed in fourteen-point font instead of the standard ten, and took up the bottom half of the front page and most of the second page. Mrs. Crookins must have been furious when her society column got pushed to page three.

"I'm sorry, my dear. Obviously these..." Beau scowled, searching for a better word.

"Throwbacks? Inbred morons? Hicks?" Jane suggested.

The proper old gentleman glared at her, but a few seconds later the look dissolved into merriment. He sighed and shook his head. "Obviously, these benighted folks have chosen to ignore your regular warnings, posted in this very newspaper, stating you are not responsible for the everyday incidents and accidents in their lives. You are one person and therefore cannot be everywhere at once. No lawyer in the land will agree to take the lawsuit."

"I wouldn't count on that," Demetrius grumbled around the stem of his pipe. It was empty, and had never held tobacco for as long as Jane had known her teachers. "For every ten good lawyers with common sense, there's one who makes ambulance chasers look reasonable. Someone will take up the case, just to make a name for himself."