The Address - Marga Minco

The story begins with a girl who goes too see another women named Mrs. Dorling. She says she is the daughter of "Mrs. S". She went to see this woman to learn about things but the lady was reluctant to tell her anything. Mrs. S's daughter only stayed there for a few minutes before she had discovered that she had already overstayed her welcome. On her way back to the train station, she thought a lot about her mother.

Mrs. Dorling used to take Mrs. S's things back to her house during the first part of the war because she thought that all of her things were going to be destroyed or left behind anyways. As she continued to walk back to the train station, she saw old streets that were burnt up and old memories ran through her body.

The girl didn't like eating the food that the soldiers had brought to them at first but it grew on to her. The next morning she went to Mrs. Dorling's house again, but this time a teenage girl answered the door and told her that her mother wasn't home. Mrs. Dorlings daughter let her in, this was something Mrs. Dorling did not do the previous day. As she walked in, she saw all of their things set up in a different setting and it disgusted her. She didn't want to stay there long, so she left without even waiting for Mrs. Dorling.

On her way back to the train she thought to herself that she wanted to never think about their things at that house again. She thought that it ruined the memory to see them again out of place and out of context, and it ruins the memory of those things.

The Pedestrian - Ray Bradbury

This is a short story about a lonely man who named Leonard Mead who had no one in this world. He loves to go out at night and stand at the sidewalk of an intersection and look down the street in all four directions. He would let his heart decide which direction he would go and and standing for a while, he begins walking his lonesome walk.

There was nights when he would walk for miles and not return home until midnight. One November night, it was chillier out than usual and Leonard was walking in a westerly direction. He regularly talked to the houses and asked what was on tv, or he would ask the house the time. He has been walking every night for almost ten years and has never seen anyone else walking

On this night, he was almost home when he heard a faint voice that told him to halt. He stopped and before he could say "but" the voice said "hands up or we'll shoot." He quickly discovered this was the police, but he thought to himself that he hasn't done anything wrong. The policeman asked for his name and Leonard told him. He then asked him other questions such as where he lived, and what his profession was with the light still on him and the gun still pointed.

He asked Leonard what he was doing out this late and he simply replied that he was walking. The policeman was puzzled and asked why he was walking. Leonard said it was for air and to "see". The policeman then asked why he couldn't get air from his house. The policeman continued to ask meaningless questions such as where he lived, and if he was married and continuously asked why he was walking.

The policeman ordered him to get in the back of the car, although reluctant Leonard obeyed and got in. He protested, but it didn't help. He asked the man where he was taking him and the policeman said to the "Psychiatric Center for Research on Progressive Tendencies." As they passed Leonard's house, he told the man that it was his house but no one answered. The car continued to move down the road. There was no more sound for the rest of that November night.

Sunday in the Park - Bel Kaufman

Sunday in the Park is a short story about a family of three who went to that park one Sunday afternoon. They were the only three at the park that afternoon, and they were watching their three year old son playing in the sandbox. The sea saws and swings were motionless and the slides were empty. Only in the sandbox there was motion where two little boys played, on Larry the son of the family which was mentioned earlier and another boy who was about Larry's age. The other boy was playing in the sandbox unsupervised and the only thing going through Larry's mother's mind was where his mother was.

But then Larry's mother noticed another large man sitting on another bench and supposed that he was the boy's father. As the two boys were playing in the sand, one of them through sand at Larry. Larry's mother noticed and she immediately scolded him. The man on the other bench replied and told his son to throw all the sand he wanted and that it was a public sandbox.

Morton, the lady's husband, then felt the need to intervene in the situation. He was telling the man that even though it was a public sandbox it doesn't mean that his son can throw sand at Larry. But the larger man cut him off and said if his son feels like throwing sand he will and they should take their child and leave if they don't like it.

As the argument heated up both men were at their feet with their fists and teeth clenched. The larger man took a couple of steps closer to Morton and then stopped. Morton being the bigger man decided to get his kid and leave. But when he went to get his son he began kicking and screaming shouting "I don't want to leave, I want to play more!"

Without listening to their son, they gathered their things and walked out of the park. As they were leaving, Morton explained to his wife that a fight wouldn't have solved anything because the man was much bigger than Morton. His wife agreed, but inside she felt it was more than just a defeat, she felt that it had something to do with Morton and her.

As they continued to walk home, Larry was still crying, and Morton snapped and asked his wife if she could keep him silent. She replied with an angry voice saying "what do you think I've been trying to do". Then Morton began to get more angry, not just because of his son crying but because he was defeated in front of his family. He told his wife that if she couldn't discipline him he would. She said to him "Indeed, you and who else?" This was what the larger man at the park had said to Morton when he tried to stop him.

The Interlopers - Saki

The Interlopers is a short story about two men fighting for what they believe is theirs. In the beginning we learn that Ulrich Von Gradwitz was in his forest hunting not only for animals, but a much bigger prey, his arch nemesis Georg Znaeym. We learn about a feud dated back many generations, where the Von Gradwitz faimly was granted a strip of land over the Znaeyms. The feud had lasted three generations but ever since Ulrich, the inheritor, arrived on the scene it has become personal. He hated Georg more than anything in the world, and Georg would stop at nothing to claim what he thought was rightfully his.

Then one winter night both Ulrich and Georg were hunting with their men on the strip of a land, each hoping for a bloodthirsty encounter. Then it happened, the anticipated and awaited encounter occurred. Both men stood in silence glaring at each other with their loaded rifles, ready to engage in fire. But shockingly neither of them are able to shoot down their very own neighbor, they cannot bring themselves to shoot someone down without anything being said.

Then suddenly as they stood glaring at each other a bolt of lightning struck down on the land and a tree fell on both men crushing them so they couldn't move. Ulrich spotted Znaeym also trapped and struggling to free himself but to no avail. Both men began to argue and mock one another. They quickly discovered that this was doing no good to either of them.

Ulrich drew out his wine flask and asked Georg if he wanted a drink. He told him that if one of them were going to die, they might as well die as comfortably as they can. But Georg rejected this kind gesture and told him he doesn't drink wine with his enemy. Again there was silence. Ulrich felt that the hatred was dying down and asked Georg to set their differences aside. He wanted to end the ancient fight and asked to be friends. Georg agreed and they decided to end the quarrel created by their ancestors.

As the time passed, both men gave up and awaited their death. But then they saw in the distance a group of men, so they thought, walking towards them. They were both puzzled each of them thinking that they were his men. But then they came nearer, Ulrich discovered that these were nobody's men, but they were indeed wolves.

A Handful of Dates - Tayeb Salih

A Handful of Dates is a short story about a young boy in Sudan typically being raised by his grandfather who was also his best friend and hero. He spends more time with his granddad than he does with his father. He is very religious which was shocking to most to see such a young boy take that much interest in the Koran. He regularly learns the Koran at the Mosque whereas other children his age despised it. He was a quick learner and the Sheikh usually called upon him to recite the Merciful whenever there were visitors. After his readings at the Mosque, he hurries home and takes a plunge in the river, he often compared the river to his grandfather.

His grandfather was many more things to him than just a grandfather, he was his life teacher and his role model. He believed that he was his grandfathers favorite grandchild because he was an intelligent young boy and his cousins didn't care too much of learning the Koran or spending time with their grandfather. We learn in the story that the boy's grandfather does not like their neighbor, Masood, because he was an "indolent" man. All of the land in Sudan was originally owned by him forty years ago but 2/3s of it is now his grandfathers. Masood sold some of his land during each of him some ninety weddings to pay for things and his grandfather took advantage and bought the land.

During the time of the harvesting of the dates, the boy quickly learns that Masood was the opposite of what his grandfather had described him as. Masood was the only man that did not receive any dates and the boy's grandfather told Masood that he was in debt to him. He felt sympathy for Masood who he compared to as a lamb being slaughtered and ran off to the river which he swims in daily. He felt hatred for his grandfather at this time. When he reached the river, he stuck his finger down his throat and puked up all of the dates he had eaten.

Leave of Absence - Jennifer Shaff

A girl named Lisa discovers someone or something from another planet living in her basement. Lisa and her brother live alone because their parents had recently passed away in a devastating car crash. Spock, the alien, was first discovered by Lisa one afternoon when he was snooping in her basement.She had thought there was squirrels in her basement so she went down with a bat, just in case it wasn't squirrels. When she got down, she didn't see anything and to her surprise Spock was standing behind her and he used the Vulcan Nerve Pinch which allows him to mend minds with Lisa and explain himself much quicker and it also kept Lisa quit. Lisa got a leave of absence from the school that she was teaching at because of the recent death of her parents.

She is now helping Spock build his crashed space ship so Spock can get back to his planet. Spock had also promised Lisa that he will take her to space, so she eager to help him build his ship as apposed to being reluctant. After Spock and Lisa became familiar with each other, helping on another became much easier. Lisa showed movies of the planet Earth to Spock. Some that explained Lisa's Jewish religion to him and other about aliens to show him what humans expected would be out there.

The last thing Spock needed for his ship was some type of metal. So Lisa took him to the school bus demolition derby at the local carnival so they could cut off some metal from a busted up school bus. After they collect the metal, they would be able to fix the space ship and fly off the planet earth. As they were sitting in the bleachers, Lisa began to see her parents and remembered the time of their death because she used to come to the derby every year with her father. She began to feel claustrophobic and wanted to leave but it was so crowded that she couldn't see the aisle. Then she slipped through the bleachers and Spock followed. As Lisa started running towards the exit, Spock pulled her arm and told her they needed to go to the buses first. Lisa agreed and they ran towards the demolished buses.

After they collected the amount of metal they required they returned home and Spock worked on his machine the whole night. When the morning came, Lisa went to the basement and saw Spock's clothes folded neatly, she yelled, "Spock," but no one answered. She began to think that he left without her and started crying. Then she saw Spock in the backyard hunched over his communicator. He asked Lisa if she was ready to leave but no words came out form Lisa's mouth. She could not go into space with him, she couldn't leave. He told her if she couldn't come he would have to leave without her. Spock entered his ship it turned on, it vanished in thin air and left floating diamonds that quickly faded.

A month and a half after Spock's departure, things began to get back to normal. Lisa called her principle and told her that she was ready to come back and she began to talk to her friends again. Although she sees herself in space and in Vulcan, she doesn't have any doubts of letting Spock leave on his own.