Our Lady of the Burning Heart

Two stories of crime, chance and coincidence

Liam is a small time criminal in a world of trouble. Cause he owes twenty thousand dollars to local gangster Dan "the Man" O'Brien and if Liam doesn't pay back him within twenty-four hours, he's in for a whole world of pain.

Liam does not have twenty thousand dollars. All he has are four dollars and forty-seven cents and a plan. For there is a horse running tonight, a horse sure to win him the missing twenty thousand dollars and more. If Liam only had enough money to bet on it.

So when Liam passes the church of Our Lady of the Burning Heart and finds the door open late at night, he does what a good Catholic boy like him should never even consider. He ventures into the church, intending to rob the collection box.

But a statue of the Virgin Mary with an eerily glowing heart, a forgetful priest and a lost bus ticket conspire to rescue Liam from Dan "the Man" and return him to the path of righteousness…

Bonus story: Lucky Harry

In former East Germany, Dennis has robbed a bank and has found the perfect hiding place for the loot, an old soap factory deserted since the unification. But his plan is thwarted by homeless Harry, a bottle of Soviet era vodka and Lenin's birthday…

These are two crime shorts of 4900 words or approximately 18 print pages altogether.