In this story by Mary Lavin, a boy challenges a younger friend to visit a wake to “know” a corpse for the first time The dead man, who had been intellectually challenged since birth, had never had contact with children. The boys agree when his mother invites them to pray over the body, but flee when she asks them to stroke it. The encounter with death not only brings the younger boy closer to his parents but also highlights the grim significance of his family’s nightly prayer. Themes include bravado, death, family, the precious and capricious nature of life. More…
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The Old Aunt / Boodhi Kaki
In this story by Premchand a Hindu woman is overcome with pity and fear of adharma (divine punishment for selfishness and injustice) when she sees her husband’s disabled aunt foraging for food among banquet leftovers. The aunt, who has no other living relative, had previously transferred her entire property to the woman’s family in exchange for a promise of care. Rather than being cared for she has been treated inhumanely, often being left hungry and alone in her room for long periods. Themes include greed, betrayal, the plight of the infirm, responsibility, neglect, redemption, kindness. More…
Scent of Apples
Set during World War 2, this story by Bienvenido Santos explores the cultural displacement experienced by the thousands of Filipino men who emigrated to America in the first half of last Century. For an apple farmer who has lived in America for twenty years, the omnipresent scent of apples is a constant reminder of the difference between the two countries. Surprisingly, despite having a loving American family, he is anxious to know how much Filipino women have changed and can’t help thinking of what might otherwise have been. Themes include family, choices and consequences, cultural identity, alienation, isolation, nostalgia, connection. More…
I’m Your Horse in the Night
In this story by Luisa Valenzuela a woman describes a visit by her lover, an Argentinian resistance leader, after a mysterious six months’ absence. After a night of passionate lovemaking, when she wakes up he is gone. Arrested and tortured to divulge his whereabouts, she copes by telling herself the visit didn’t happen. She is so successful that by the end of the story she (and readers) are left wondering whether the visitor was real, a dream, or her dead lover’s spirit. Themes include love, sexuality, gender roles, oppression, paranoia, violence, memory and imagination, the supernatural. More…
Examination Day
Set in a late 20th century dystopian society, this story by Henry Slesar questions the acceptable limits of government control. A couple appears tense at the breakfast table on what should be a happy day, their only son’s twelfth birthday. The following week, the boy must take a government intelligence test. Although the father appears poorly educated, struggling to answer basic science questions, his son does well at school and is confident of passing. To their horror, he does even better and aces the exam. Themes include government control, fear, oppression, conditioning and acceptance, eugenics. More…