And It's essentially a list of nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs.
But it's also a story.
Because Into The Night can be said to respect the definition of story given by Moss that is, a story is only a story if it contains four key elements:
- The setting - an apartment;
- The characters - a couple having sex and the spouse of one of them;
- The conflict - the husband wanting to kill his wife's lover; and
- The resolution - the naked lover fleeing out the window to escape from the husband.
By narrating the playfully audacious Into The Night as a list, Dick Skeen gives an original and entertaining take on what would otherwise have been a cliché.
His skill lies in choosing the right words, in the right order, and in the right number, which is not as easy as it sounds, if your aim is to write a complete story in exactly fifty-five words.
Alberico Collina
INTO THE NIGHT
Look, smile, teeth, lips, voice, sexy, car, feel, apartment, couch, music, dance, lights, drink, moist, dry, soft, firm, fast, slow, easy, hard, leg, knee, thigh, shoulders, breast, fingers, silky, rough, breath, living room, bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, basement, bed, pillow, sheets, shower, cigarette, coffee, stockings, brassiere, dress, shirt, naked, rattle, door, husband, scramble, kill, clothes, window.
DICK SKEEN
from The World’s Shortest Stories, a collection of fifty-five word stories compiled and edited by Steve Moss.