APPETITE (a 55-word story)


One night, driving his girlfriend’s car, he ran over a boar.

He placed the beast in the car; he’d cook it later.

But the “dead” boar woke up.

And went ballistic.

He stopped and ran out the car.

The car was destroyed.

And it stank.

“Darling, someone has stolen your car.” He heard himself say.



Alberico Collina

Unburdened by Revenge


I can’t throw away books.

I’ve tried.

I’ve put them in the rubbish bin in the evening, only to rescue them just before the refuse collector turns up in the morning.

Some books I’ve saved this way many times over.

One book in particular holds the record.

It’s a paperback version of Autumn Quail by Naguib Mahfouz, which I bought when I was working in Cairo.

I want to throw it away because it’s falling apart, but I can’t throw it away since I have yet to replace it. And so I read it gently, laying out one detached page at a time like a sacred text, of which there is only one copy.

Autumn Quail is a small masterpiece. It chronicles the fall from grace of Isa, a high-ranking bureaucrat, with immense social and political ambitions, who becomes collateral damage when the 1952 Egyptian revolution erupts.

His life will undergo changes that will take him far from his comfort zone.

He will see the world that he believed in, and which gave him power and influence, crumble around him.

And once he gets over the shock, he will rediscover his country, its people, and, above all, himself.

His is a rapid descent down the Cairo social ladder, which brings him to Alexandria and to an existence that is light years away from the one he had in Cairo.

And through this fall he will lose much, but he will learn more.

Mahfouz is a master at describing a man that loses status and possessions but rediscovers life in the process.

Time, that muse that had always eluded him in his climb to the top now gives herself freely to him.

And Isa begins to appreciate those things that he’d been all too ready to see fly past him before.

His senses begin to take over.

He begins to see, to hear, to smell, to taste, and to feel again.

And this will take him to a place he would never have dreamed.

A place where there is no right or wrong, where people forgive the sins of the past and run towards a future unburdened by revenge.



Alberico Collina

MORNING


The body leads…but the mind gets left behind.


Yoga to become less stiff…but the mind is obstinate.

Breakfast to feel less hungry…but the mind is famished.

Shave to look less hairy…but the mind is primitive.

Shower to be less dirty…but the mind is formless.

Dress to be less naked…but the mind is raw.


The body leads…but the mind gets left behind.



Alberico Collina

THE OTHER INTERVIEW


“Your case study results are fine, I’d just like to ask you a few more questions?” Said the interviewer.

“Sure.” I replied.

“What is the opposite of an island?” He asked.

“I don’t know…a lake?” I mumbled.

“Yes, good. What is the substitute for sugar?” Said the interviewer.

“Artificial sweetener.” I replied.

“Yes, good. What is a competitor of artificial sweetener?” He blurted out almost immediately.

“Food with artificial sweetener already inside it?” I said without conviction.

“Yes, good. Why is a manhole cover round?” He quizzed.

“I don’t know… to save material?” I guessed.

“No, I’m afraid that is not the answer I’m looking for. Manhole covers are round because their shape ensures they will not fall inside the manhole. Thank you for your time. We will let you know.”

And they didn’t.



Alberico Collina

QUEEN BEE (a 55-word story)


Jane had kept bees for decades before she died falling down some stairs.

After the funeral, mourners saw a swarm of bees hover over Jane’s grave.

The bees darted towards Jane’s only son, Robert.

They stung him until he screamed, “I did it! I pushed her!”

The bees hovered again over Jane’s grave.

And vanished.



Alberico Collina

STARS (a 55-word story)


Our desert guide was binding a camel’s legs together.

“Why?” I asked.

“Too much walking. If I don’t tie its legs, it will walk till death.” Said the guide.

“I wish I could tie my thoughts together; maybe I could sleep then.” I said.

“Watching stars ties thoughts together.” Said the guide.

And it did.



Alberico Collina

CALLING (a 55-word story)


Strolling in Paris with a friend, Rol entered a wine shop.

“May I see your cellar?” He asked the shopkeeper.

 In the basement, Rol said, “Dig here!”, Marking a spot with his walking stick.

Beneath the earth, was a priceless bust of Napoleon.

“How did you know?” Asked the shopkeeper.

“It called me.” Said Rol.



Alberico Collina

THE PHOTOGRAPHER (a 55-word story)


“I used to be a photographer, but now I reshape history. Not history with a capital “H”, family history.” He said.

“How?”

“Today, my job is to Photoshop out a bride’s drunken uncle from her wedding pictures.”

“Is that bad?”

“It is if you’re the uncle”, says he, erasing himself from his niece’s wedding pictures.



Alberico Collina

Under A Lethal Spell


See You in Samarra is a triumph of quality over quantity.

It shows that a good tale need be neither long nor complex to be compelling.

Half way through this brief story, we learn the identity of the narrator.

And this discovery catches us off balance, making the twist in the plot lethal.

And spellbinding.


Alberico Collina


There was a merchant in Baghdad who sent his servant to the market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the market-place I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture; now, lend me your horse and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there death will not find me. The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went.

Then the merchant went down to the market-place and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning? That was not a threatening gesture, I said, it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Baghdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.

*This story was translated from Arabic but the author remains anonymous. It appears however, in Jeffrey Archer’s short story collection To cut a long story short, Somerset Maugham’s play Sheppey and as a preface to John O’Hara’s Appointment in Samarra.
source:http://www.wamathai.com/death-speaks/

Trial by Dinner


One of the most imaginative stories I have ever read is entitled Traps – A Still Possible Story by Friedrich Dürenmatt.

The car of a travelling salesman breaks down, and he ends up having to spend the night in a small rural town, where all hotels are booked because of an agricultural fair.

Someone directs him to the house of a retired judge, who sometimes, if he likes them, lets strangers sleep at his house.

The pensioner takes a look at the salesman and invites him to stay at his house, on condition that he remain for dinner, and that he take part in a role playing game.

That night, a mock trial takes place over a cordon bleu dinner.

The salesman is tricked into revealing an episode in his past, in which he did not behave ethically.

And which may have contributed to the death of his employer.

The prosecution, a retired lawyer, colleague of the host, seizes on this and pins the crime on the salesman, who becomes the unwitting defendant of a hypothetical murder charge.

But the evening takes an ominous turn and what was supposed to be just a game becomes a tragedy.

Dürrenmatt’s skill lies in telling a tale, where, although we are seduced by the logic of the prosecution and the elegance of their case, ultimately, we empathise with the defendant.

We realize, like many of us, he's a victim of his own superficiality.

His only ‘crime’ is to have sought pleasure without thinking about the consequences.

But at this dinner he is made to stand trial for it.

And this throws a completely different perspective on the whole affair, blowing it up out of all proportions, forcing him to reevaluate his entire life and its worth.

And this will prove deadly.


Alberico Collina