In this Romanian folktale, a rich man thinks how terrible it would be to die and have to leave all of his money behind. He sets out to find a land where people do not die. Finally, he comes across a country where the word death is unknown. Instead of dying, people simply follow a strange voice and never return. The rich man is sure that he is strong enough to resist the voice. He moves there with his wife and family, only to learn the truth of the English idiom: Nothing is certain in life but death and taxes. More…
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The Bog Man
As in an earlier Margaret Atwood story, The Age of Lead, The Bog Man revolves around a long-dead body. A university student’s hero worship of her archaeology professor leads to a torrid affair during which she accompanies him as his ‘assistant’ to inspect a 2,000-year-old body preserved in a Scottish peat bog. As his invisible wife comes between them, she feels “cheap and furtive”. Recognizing his shallowness, she ends the relationship. Like the bog man, over the years he becomes flatter and more leathery, as life goes out of him in her mind. Themes include infatuation, sexual exploitation, desire, guilt, empowerment. More…
Sometimes a Dream Needs a Push
There are two “dreams” in this inspirational story by W. D. Myers. The first is a father’s dream that his son follow in his footsteps and become a competitive basketball player; the second is the boy’s dream to be able to overcome his disability and return to the game. The “pushes” come when the boy is invited to join a wheelchair team, and the father overcomes his feelings of guilt and decides to help the team. Themes: guilt, courage, maintaining a positive attitude, family, father-son bonding, team spirit, how trying and doing one’s best is more important than winning. More…
The Prisoner Who Wore Glasses
This story from Bessie Head is about a group of political prisoners who unite to survive the harsh South African penal system. Physically, the main character (Brille) is the weakest of the span of ten prisoners. This is reflected in his build, his clumsiness, and his poor eyesight. Brille compensates for these weaknesses with strength of character and insight. A beating from a warder helps him see that he entered politics for the wrong reason; it also shows him a way to manipulate the warder to improve things for the whole span. His glasses symbolize both weakness and perceptiveness. More…
Prey
In this famous horror story from Richard Matheson, a young woman buys her new boyfriend a Zuni fetish doll for his birthday. A scroll inside the box reads This is He Who Kills…. He is a deadly hunter. As she prepares to shower, the doll turns out to be the real deal. It escapes the gold chain designed to keep the hunter’s spirit locked inside, and sets off in search of prey. You get the feeling that both the girl and the spirit are at least temporarily happy with the outcome. However, the girl’s controlling mother may not be! More…