Three Vignettes by Sandra Cisneros. Each deals with an aspect of "place". A Mexican-American family moves to a new neighborhood that most outsiders consider dangerous. Their small house is special because they own it. A year later, the protagonist wonders why the new house still doesn’t feel like "home".
Quick Read by Banaphool. An Indian insurance agent does his best to sell a policy to four fellow passengers in his train compartment. When a fifth with a “trunked head” emerges from a top bunk, he realizes they are not who they seem. Fortunately, he still makes a sale.
Short Story by Isabel Allende. Tomás Vargas is a lecherous, wife-beating, boastful drunkard who enjoys a luxurious, self-indulgent “macho” lifestyle as his wife and children live in poverty. To add to his family’s misery, he brings his pregnant mistress home to live with them. Fortunately, he gets his just deserts.
Short Story by Alice Walker. A woman daydreams through her wedding ceremony about how her life will change. She is from the rural South, he is from Chicago; she is Christian, he is Muslim. She reconciles herself to a life of "ropes, chains and handcuffs" away from family and friends.
Short Story by Ray Bradbury. A Chinese Emperor learns that one of his subjects has invented a “flying machine”. Thinking the invention could be used against him if the “technology” fell into the wrong hands, he has the man be executed, the kite destroyed, and the whole episode hushed up.