Hi. I am new here, so I curtsey in the general direction of everyone here.
I need help identifying the name of one book, and one short story (and the name of the book the story might be in as well)
The first book I read in either junior or high school, 15-20 years ago. The book itself seemed to be published in the sixties or seventies. This is what I remember about the book. There were two men, I think one may have gone to the other to get flying lessons, but that part is a bit unclear in my memory. At any rate, the second man turned out to be a criminal or murderer of some sort, causing the first man to have to run/flee. The two men are basically chasing each other around and hiding from each other in the nearby desert with nobody else around for miles - basically the bad guy is trying to find him and kill him before he can get away/go to the police, etc. The theme was generally of the men being in a stalemate or standoff, and isolation, etc. although none of these were the title of the book.
The short story is a piece of horror fiction, probably 30 to 40 years old, that I read in an anthology in elementary school in the early 1980's - although the book was definitely not what I would consider a children's book. For years I thought the story was in an anthology by Anne Moody entitled Mr. Death, but I finally got a copy of that book and the story wasn't in it. Here are the details that I remember: A young couple meet another young couple. The second couple is weird-ish - they may or may not be brother and sister and there relationship is intimated to be borderline incestuous, although this is never really clear. The woman also seems to be obviously flirting with the man from the first couple, also in an inappropriate way. Eventually, they all go back to the second couple's house or flat and have some weird conversation. When the first couple eventually leave, the man realizes that he forgot his lighter. They go back the next morning and are told be the landlord that the second couple doesn't exist or died long ago - no one lives there. But when the man looks through the window, he sees his lighter on the table, possibly covered in years of dust. Again, this is a short story in an anthology of horror fiction and/or ghost stories.
I've been looking for both of these for years, to no avail. I thought asking other readers on an internet forum might be helpful
Thanks very much, in advance.
I need help identifying the name of one book, and one short story (and the name of the book the story might be in as well)
The first book I read in either junior or high school, 15-20 years ago. The book itself seemed to be published in the sixties or seventies. This is what I remember about the book. There were two men, I think one may have gone to the other to get flying lessons, but that part is a bit unclear in my memory. At any rate, the second man turned out to be a criminal or murderer of some sort, causing the first man to have to run/flee. The two men are basically chasing each other around and hiding from each other in the nearby desert with nobody else around for miles - basically the bad guy is trying to find him and kill him before he can get away/go to the police, etc. The theme was generally of the men being in a stalemate or standoff, and isolation, etc. although none of these were the title of the book.
The short story is a piece of horror fiction, probably 30 to 40 years old, that I read in an anthology in elementary school in the early 1980's - although the book was definitely not what I would consider a children's book. For years I thought the story was in an anthology by Anne Moody entitled Mr. Death, but I finally got a copy of that book and the story wasn't in it. Here are the details that I remember: A young couple meet another young couple. The second couple is weird-ish - they may or may not be brother and sister and there relationship is intimated to be borderline incestuous, although this is never really clear. The woman also seems to be obviously flirting with the man from the first couple, also in an inappropriate way. Eventually, they all go back to the second couple's house or flat and have some weird conversation. When the first couple eventually leave, the man realizes that he forgot his lighter. They go back the next morning and are told be the landlord that the second couple doesn't exist or died long ago - no one lives there. But when the man looks through the window, he sees his lighter on the table, possibly covered in years of dust. Again, this is a short story in an anthology of horror fiction and/or ghost stories.
I've been looking for both of these for years, to no avail. I thought asking other readers on an internet forum might be helpful
Thanks very much, in advance.