Featured Stories

Grandfather’s Story

Grandfather’s Story: Short story by Catherine LimThis two-part story by Catherine Lim begins with the background of the narrator’s grandparents. We learn that the grandfather, unable to live with his wife who cruelly exploited bondmaids (female slaves) in growing a successful garment business, found lifetime love with another woman. In the second part of the story, the grandfather relates a folktale-like account of how the fates of all three were predestined a thousand years previously when the Almighty passed judgement on a Chinese farmer, his good-hearted but naïve wife, and a cruel, mercenary nun. Themes include love, cruelty, slavery, greed, fate, rebirth and karmic justice.

Continue ReadingGrandfather’s Story

The Homemaker / Gharwali

The Homemaker / Gharwali: Short story by Ismat ChughtaiIn this story by Ismat Chughtai, an orphan growing up on the streets learns that her body is her only asset. Alluring and without shame, she is known for providing sex for money, on credit, or as charity. Things change when a friend suggests that a respectable shopkeeper employ her as a housemaid. He refuses because of her reputation, but she is so taken by what she sees after visiting his house that she stays despite his protests and takes over the household. Themes include promiscuity, reputation, hypocrisy, desire, marriage, patriarchy, jealousy, the importance of “belonging”.

Continue ReadingThe Homemaker / Gharwali

The Jay

The Jay: Short story by Yasunari KawabataThe Jay is one of Yasunari Kawabata’s famous Palm-of-the-Hand Stories. A small bird is causing a fuss because it can’t find a lost chick that has fallen from its nest. A young woman about to enter into an arranged marriage also feels lost. She has never known her birth mother, who her father divorced when she was very young, and lives with her grandmother. Her father and stepmother are coming to visit with the mother of her fiancé. The major theme, exemplified by the bird, is the intensity of motherly love. Other themes: family, marriage, uncertainty, wisdom of the aged.

Continue ReadingThe Jay

The Devil

The Devil: Short story by Guy de MaupassantIn The Devil, Guy de Maupassant adopts the unusual (for him) approach of lightening a dark story-line with some playful dialog. A heartless old washerwoman has a side job nursing fellow villagers as they approach death. She normally charges by the day, but when forced into agreeing to a flat fee she has a ‘devilish’ way of helping her patients move along sooner rather than later. The major theme is greed, as evidenced by the lengths she and other villagers will go to if they can save a penny (or in this case, a sou). Other themes: death, poverty, deceit.

Continue ReadingThe Devil

Zlateh the Goat

Zlateh the Goat: Short story by Isaac Bashevis SingerIt is easy to see why this story from Isaac Singer is said to be derived from Jewish folklore. Zlateh, an anthropomorphic goat, is about to meet the fate of many farm animals. No longer producing enough milk to justify her keep, she faces a final trip to the town butcher. Fortunately, a freak snowstorm interrupts the journey and gives her a chance to redeem herself. Themes: (general) love and loyalty, obedience, trust, resourcefulness, inter-dependence, survival; (religious) sacrifice, faith, acceptance: We must accept all that God gives us—heat, cold, hunger, satisfaction, light, and darkness.

Continue ReadingZlateh the Goat

Grandpa’s Magic Hat

Grandpa's Magic Hat: Short story by Marilyn HelmerIn this story by Marilyn Helmer for Cricket Magazine, two brothers set out to prove their grandfather was joking when he told them an old straw hat he never wears has the magical ability to bring things to life. They decide to test the hat by placing it on the head of scarecrow standing in a neighbor’s garden. As they are doing this, the neighbor’s dog barks and the boy’s flee, leaving the hat behind. Later that night, they are shocked when a stranger dressed exactly like the scarecrow joins a neighbourhood barn dance.

Continue ReadingGrandpa’s Magic Hat

The Good Doctor

The Good Doctor: Short story by Adam HaslettThis story by Adam Haslett explores the frustrations of a young government psychiatrist as he makes a house call to evaluate a remote patient. The woman, living with guilt, depression and fear after the death of her methamphetamine-addicted eldest son, wants to renew her prescriptions. The doctor strongly believes she is also in need of therapy, but faces two problems in providing it: distance (a five-hour round-trip to see her), and the woman’s refusal to participate. Themes include social change, rural poverty and lack of opportunity, shattered dreams, disillusionment, substance abuse, guilt, PTSD, alienation, biological psychiatry vs. clinical psychology.

Continue ReadingThe Good Doctor

The Leap

The Leap: Short story by Louise ErdrichThis Louise Erdrich story about the relationship between a former blindfold trapeze artist and her daughter involves three leaps. The first is the tragic failed leap that resulted in the deaths of the woman’s first husband and their unborn child. The second is the successful leap through which the mother saves the then seven-year-old girl from a house fire. The third is a leap of time. The now elderly mother is physically blind and requires her daughter’s help to engage her passion for books and reading. Themes: choice & consequences, mother-child relationships, love, courage, trust, aging, the joy of reading.

Continue ReadingThe Leap