Shiners — John T. Biggs

What's the matter with Glenna?
When you get struck by lightning before you're even born, things can only get worse -- or that's what everyone believes. Poor Glenna is a pretty girl but her brain has been short-circuited. She hardly ever talks. When she does, its mostly to people no one else can see.

She calls them Shiners.

Maybe they're ghosts. Maybe they're Indian spirits. Glenna isn't sure, but her invisible friends come in handy when unsavory men try to take advantage of the childlike young woman. Like the pedophile who is shot dead while hiding outside her house, or the teenage boy who nearly bleeds to death after kidnapping her, or an abusive uncle who's electrocuted.

A charismatic preacher takes a special interest in Glenna. He whisks her away to his Paraguayan mission where he can have her all to himself. But she finds lots of friends in the rainforest -- more Shiners. They've been waiting for someone like Glenna for more than a thousand years.

Could she be the messianic visitor the spirits and the natives have awaited so long?