A Review of Elsie Brown's Shady Plot

Shady Plot, a short story by Elsie Brown, is in first person narrative describing a ghost story writer. The writer is urged by his friend to write a new ghost story for his magazine. The author is very disturbed and can 't figure out a proper storyline. While he contemplates on the plot of his story it turns dark. He starts talking to himself when suddenly he hears the ghost Helen 's voice. He is startled and unable to comprehend anything. He gaped helplessly when the ghost bursts into frustration: “What are you gaping at?” Here is when we know the reason to why the ghost is enraged. She reminisces on her past life as a human and how angry she was with people then. She speaks on behalf of all the people who have turned ghosts to stop humans from calling them often. She says they are through and are all going to call for a strike. This strike refers to not to appear or provide ideas to people for writing ghost stories. Thus, Helen commands the author not to involve in any activity as such which would mean calling the spirits. At noon, while he is still trying to work on a story, his wife Lavina brings a Ouija Board home and announces her party with the women from her Book Club. The writer, drowned in consternation by her declaration, tries to convince Lavina, his wife, to drop the idea. However, his wife makes him a partner of Laura Hinkle, one of the women from the Book Club who is quiet fond of Mr. Hallock (the author), to work on one of the Ouija boards. Though he tries to resist, his wife pays no heed. When the spirit descends, Laura asks it to tell something, the pointer started moving towards the letters to point out the word 'TRAITOR '. Bewildered, the writer has nothing to say so his partner asks the spirit to explain itself more fully. In response, the spirit spells 'ASK HIM '. This is when the author realises that it is actually Helen who is trying to interact with them. Unable to explain, the author feels miserable and his wife Lavina, who already goes