“An Ordinary Brick House”
Joseph Payne Brennan
originally appeared in Shadows 9, Charles L. Grant, ed.

A lot of great short fiction appeared in the Shadows series, and much of it has never been reprinted.  “An Ordinary Brick House” is a perfect example.  An that’s a shame because it’s an interesting haunted house story.

The unnamed narrator of this story has the habit of walking along the streets of his small New England town, and one day he walks past the end of the pavement where the road turns to gravel.  He doesn’t live in the best part of town, and what he sees are the usual run-down houses and trailers.  He’s about to turn back when he sees a brick house off to his left.

The house is an ordinary, two-story house like he would expect to see in town.  He studies it closely when he sees it and on several subsequent walks.  The house is maintained, but aside from seeing a large animal that resembles a dog disappearing around the corner of the house, it appears vacant.

Then one day a woman bursts out the front door demanding to know why he has been staring at the house.  He explains.  The woman tells him she is the caretaker for an elderly widow named Ruth Kestelling.  Years ago Mrs. Kestelling was attacked by a hyena on the same safari in which her  husband was accidentally shot.  Mrs. Kestelling, now hideously disfigured, lives her life as a recluse in the house.

The narrator and the caretaker become friends, but one day she calls and tells him that Mrs. Kestelling has died and she is moving to England where she has some family.  He never sees her again.

Things get weird from there.

This was a good ghost story, and I quite enjoyed it.  The ending was truly terrifying, and there was one question I was left with, which I won’t share due to spoilers, that only added to the errieness of the ending.

“An Ordinary Brick House” is a good example of the type of story Brennan wrote.  While he might not be considered the author of any classics, he was a consistent craftsman who could tell a tale.  He needs to be better remembered.