A day laborer named Chessup works cleaning up a flooded creek. After his Buick fails to start, he decides to use the battery of the nearby Bulldozer to jump-start his car. He inadvertently finds a surprise inside the remains of the Willow tree they recently felled: a skeleton. Chessup thinks the skeleton is valuable, considering its age, and he extracts it. But his co-worker-the mysterious Burned Dan- has other ideas.

Wait for Night is a fun, pulpy horror tale that has an intriguing ending. You'll want to read this one. ( )

Nice! I love stumbling across short stories for free, and also have a listing on here.
I was surprised by this story, I guess the picture should have been a clue, but this is a horror story, luckily it wasn't super overboard, but a nice little piece of horror with some elements I didn't anticipate.

It's easier not to have expectations with a short story, especially if you don't read a synopsis. ( )

A day laborer, named Chessup, joins a crew hired to clean up a flooded creek north of Boulder, Colorado. After quitting time one day, Chessup makes a gruesome find but is certain it is also a valuable one. If he only knew . . . .

Opening with deceptively ordinary events, the unfolding story chronicles events created by Chessup’s greed. The surprising reveal in the narrative keeps readers on the edge of their seats as the unexpected revelation changes everything and deftly pushes the narrative into the horror genre. The stellar ending puts a decidedly creepy spin on the whole story.

This story is part of Tor’s Short story collection.

Highly recommended, especially for fans of the horror genre. ( )