Featured Stories

Greyhound People

Greyhound People: Short story by Alice AdamsThis story by Alice Adams consists of several “snapshots” of the narrator’s encounters with fellow passengers on Greyhound buses. Recently divorced and facing potential homelessness, the woman’s self-esteem is at an all-time low. Taken in by an overbearing friend, her life has deteriorated into a daily grind. Faced with an inter-city bus commute morning and evening, the situations she encounters and people she meets awaken her to a whole new world. For perhaps the first time in her life, she begins to act independently and step out of her comfort zone. Themes: isolation, insecurity, friendship, dependency, anxiety/fear, personal growth.

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The Secret Cause

The Secret Cause: Short story by Joaquim Maria Machado de AssisCharacters in Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis stories often have a causa secreta (ulterior motive) for their actions. When a young doctor opens a hospital in partnership with a forty-year-old acquaintance, he is amazed by the older man’s dedication to nursing the most seriously ill and injured patients. A visit to his partner’s house explains why. He is a sadist who finds pleasure in inflicting pain on animals and observing the suffering of others. The doctor suppresses a growing love for the man’s frightened wife, only letting it show on her deathbed. Themes include sadism, cruelty, and secret love.

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Abuela Invents the Zero

Abuela Invents the Zero: Short story by Judith Ortiz CoferThe major themes of this Judith Ortiz Cofer story are respect and consideration for the feelings of others. The protagonist’s (Connie’s) Abuela deserved respect because of her age and family contribution. Instead, Connie appears put out by her visit. Her tone in describing what happens from the moment Abuela arrives to events in the church is condescending and belittling, showing little cultural awareness or thought for the poor woman’s frailty and possible senility. The self-admitted “jerk” is more worried about the inconvenience and “look” (her social image) than her Abuela’s feelings. Other themes: family, aging, responsibility, embarrassment.

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Two Dollars

Two Dollars: Short story by Sharona VedolThe major themes of this Sharona Vedol story from Spider Magazine are compassion and generosity. Set during the Great Depression, a young girl accompanies her father to collect rent from families in their apartment blocks. She sees first-hand the hardship being experienced by tenants, and is impressed by the respect and understanding her father shows for each family. She is shocked when they come to a family who have no money left over for food, and worries her father will be angry about something she buys with the two dollars he gives her to buy them groceries.

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Exchange Value

Exchange Value: Short story by Charles JohnsonThis story by Charles Johnson explores the theme that wealth brings power. Two brothers break into the apartment of an elderly, reclusive neighbor. The woman, who has been living in squalor, lies dead in bed. In her living room are cash and other valuables worth over a million dollars, which they quickly move to their own apartment. The younger brother looks forward to the better life money will bring. However, he is overruled by his older brother, who suffers the same strange reluctance to spend any of it as the old woman had. Other themes include hoarding, paranoia, isolation, poverty.

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The Willow Walk

The Willow Walk: Short story by Sinclair LewisIn this story by Sinclair Lewis, twins Jasper and John Holt couldn’t be more different: Jasper, a well-dressed, respectable bank teller and admired member of a community theatre group; John, a disheveled, reclusive religious fanatic and admired member of an obscure religious cult. Yet they are the same person, a skilled actor carrying out an elaborate bank heist. The robbery goes off perfectly… “Jasper” mysteriously disappears, and John, who no one suspects, has the money. All goes well until John’s conscience causes him to descend into madness. Themes include crime, dissimulation, social class, religious zealotry, guilt, madness, atonement, despair.

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Beware of the Dog

Beware of the Dog: Short story by Roald DahlThis story by Roald Dahl opens with a World War 2 fighter pilot trying to get his badly damaged plane back to England. As he muses about how stoically he will tell his ground crew that he has lost a leg, he is forced to bail out. He wakes up, his injuries already treated, in hospital. He is initially relieved to learn that he had landed in Brighton. However, over the next twenty-four hours, he gradually realizes that something is wrong. Themes: war casualties, courage, determination, deception (looks can be deceiving), duty..

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The Secret Source

The Secret Source: Short story by Ben OkriThe world described in this Ben Okri story is not a pleasant place. Cities are decaying, rivers and oceans are so polluted they contain no life, ground water is undrinkable, and households are limited to just fifteen minutes of tap water a day. When a couple discover this is synthetic and contains chemicals designed to reduce dissent among the population, they embark on a quest to find a source of pure water. The ambiguous denouement encourages readers to ponder what life would be like in a world without freshwater. Themes include environmental degradation, urban decay, government manipulation and control.

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