In this Italo Calvino fantasy, a bored man spends his lunch breaks following a neighbourhood cat on its afternoon rounds through his rapidly growing the city. Thanks to the cat, he discovers a secret world within the city known only to its feline inhabitants. The story takes a grim turn when the cat steals a fish and leads the man to an overgrown garden that provides the last sanctuary for stray cats in the city. When progress tries to claim it, the cats and other animal residents fight back. Themes: social class, the negative aspects of progress, adaptivity, rebellion.

This Italo Calvino story is a set in the imaginary past when the moon came close enough to earth each month for people to climb onto it. For some reason, this could only be done by ladder from a boat. The plot involves a love triangle within a group of people who regularly sail out to collect ‘moon-milk’. At the center of the triangle is the captain’s wife, who becomes stranded on the moon as it moves permanently away. The captain seems pleased to be rid of her, but not so the protagonist. This is magical realism at its best.

In Italo Calvino’s Night Driver, a man speeds to his girlfriend’s house to apologize about a phone argument during which he called off their relationship. He needs to get there quickly, because she threatened to call a rival. He faces two problems in getting there on time: 1) they live far apart, so it is a long drive; and 2) he thinks too much. As he drives, the man examines every possibility as to what the other two may be doing, whether one or both could also be driving along the same highway, and what other steps he should take.