Quick Read by Saki. A story about the fight for women’s right to vote that provides a classic example of the use of reverse psychology to achieve a desired result. By making the need to vote so onerous, a clever king has women “weeping” to be stripped of the entitlement.
Short Story by Louise Erdrich. A woman describes her relationship with her mother and three important “leaps” in the mother’s life. The first failed, ending in a double tragedy. The second succeeded, saving the then seven-year-old’s life. The third (a leap of time) brought them closer together.
Novelette by Deborah Eisenberg. A twenty-eight-year-old woman has had an on and off lover for over ten years. The man, who hasn’t contacted her for six months, calls and asks her to drop everything and spend a few weeks with him in Montreal. Like many times before, she readily agrees.
Short Story by Kurt Vonnegut. In a future world, the government tries to make everyone equal by “handicapping” them with weights, masks and earphones. As is usual in such worlds, some in government are excused. Harrison Bergeron tries to change things as his parents watch in confusion on TV.
Short Story by George Orwell. A young officer in the British Colonial Police in the early 1920's describes an experience with an elephant that had killed a villager. He tells how he felt pressured into shooting the animal, even though he knew this to be unnecessary.