Short Story by Richard Yates. Two men at a cocktail party learn that their army divisions fought alongside each other during a bloody World War 2 canal crossing. While one boasts about his role in the operation the other, who performed equally as bravely, would rather forget what happened.
Short Story by O. Henry. A young man boasts to friends that he will teach his fiancée a lesson by taking another girl to a dance. The fiancée makes good her promise to kill him if he does, then commits suicide. Strangely, a heavenly court absolves her of the crime.
Short Story by Jack London. A group of Alaskan miners celebrating Christmas greet a stranger warmly. Shortly after he leaves, a policeman arrives claiming he has stolen $40,000. When the men learn the truth about the stolen money, they drink to the stranger’s good luck and “confusion to the police”.
Quick Read by Shirley Jackson. An imaginative four-year-old travelling on a train with his mother and infant sister attracts the attention of a strange man who recounts how much he loved his own sister. He then relates how, after killing and dismembering her, he fed her head to a bear.
Novelette by Ella Leffland. A widow in her late fifties finds herself unable to cope alone following the death of her aunt and long-time companion. She suffers a nervous breakdown and, after an argument with an eccentric male “protector”, falls prey to a vicious serial killer.