Short Story by Silvina Ocampo. Teachers at a boarding school are puzzled when students begin to act “as if they want to become equal” and increasingly lose their individuality. Seemingly directed by a single voice, they strive to look and act the same, and develop a strange fascination with wings.
Short Story by Anne Tyler. An eighty-two-year-old man insists on moving into an “old folks’ home”. Although has a loving family who would gladly house and care for him, he is ashamed of his growing weakness and steadfastly (and somewhat selfishly) refuses to be “loved at any cost”.
Short Story by Jack Agüeros. A game of street dominoes ends in a fight in which one man dies and another’s life is ruined. The game illustrates two aspects of the life of Puerto Rican immigrants living in the USA: fate vs. free will, and machismo.
Novelette by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. Two friends fall out over a proposal to sell the public grain magazine. Years later, they clash again over a proposal to allow a new railway to follow the only route possible, which includes part of an old, disused cemetery. This leads to a fiery ending.
Short Story by O. Henry. A visitor to what he thought was a quiet, boring city is caught up in a murder involving three characters: a self-educated, gentle lady of the old South, the cruel husband who treats her badly, and an African-American coach driver with a royal bearing.