The smell of rum crowded the night. From the sugar cane the men walked toward their homes. Tired and hungry they were, but they knew their women waited for them. Well, not for all of them. Only for those who have a woman to call theirs. For the rest, the night ahead would be long and uncertain. In those long hours, only rum would soothe their souls. But rum was a double-edge sword. In the darkest hour, that same rum numbing their pain could grant them an encounter no men would ever seek. Or survived.

Duppies,

A type of ghost or spirit native to Jamaican folklore. Duppies, while ghosts, have much in common with European shapeshifters and North American roadside tricksters: They have a physical body, like to hide in dark places to then jump on their unsuspecting victims, and lov...

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