A Television Drama- By: Jane Rule

“Sometimes a place that looks really safe turns out to be the most dangerous place” This story is about a woman named Carolee Mitchell who on a normal day was cleaning her house. Suddenly, some noises that were coming from outside caused her to look through the window of her living room to see what was going on. Carolee was a type of person who never imagined that something terrible would happen in her neighbourhood. She always thought that her neighbourhood was safe. So when she saw that a couple of police cars were parked in front of her house, she was afraid. With the police and their dogs standing in her neighbourhood and her neighbours standing outside looking at them, she was very curious about what happened that these police had to come here. Confused Carolee ,was starting to make predictions of what just happened. She first thought that someone probably murdered someone but then she thought how they would do it in the middle of the day. Looking outside for a while, she thought that she’d better do something else since nothing was going on out there, and if something was going on out there she would not know what was happening anyway.

Suddenly something caught her eye that was in her garden, it was man who was wounded. He was hurt in the right hand, and then trying as hard as he could he tried to get up and started to moved, he stumbled and fell beside a tree. Carolee saw a couple of reporters coming towards him and saying that he was the suspect. While Carolee listened to what they were saying, she was questioning herself about what did that man do? After a couple of minutes she found out that the man who was wounded by the right arm had a robbed a bank and shot a police officer. Suddenly the ambulance came and took the wounded suspect to the hospital.

Carolee turned on the radio at two o’clock to listen to the local news. At three o’clock they reported that the police officer was in the operating room. The suspect found to be in an okay condition at four o’ clock and at five o’ clock her husband Pete came home. Her husband asked her about whether she was okay or not, or was she scared to see the wounded man in her front garden. They turned on the television and the same details were said as on the radio. Pete was glad that Carolee didn’t go outside. Now Carolee had forgotten that she was in her safe house in a safe neighbourhood and was afraid.

A Handful of Dates - By :Tayeb Salih

“Sometimes a single moment can change your thoughts towards others” This story is about a little Muslim boy who loves his grandfather and compares him to God and the river that is so pure to him. He described his grandfather as a very tall person that has a white, soft as cotton beard. He loved his grandfather because he was the only person who understood him and also the little boy was his favourite grandson. One day he asked something to his grandfather about Masood their neighbour. His grandfather replied and said that the fields or “feddans” that he sees once belonged to none other than Masood. The little boy never knew that his grandfather who currently owns more than hundred feddans, once didn’t even own a single one because he always thought that his grandfather owned these feddans for a very long time. He was also surprised in knowing that every time Masood would marry a woman he would sell some piece of land to the little boy’s grandfather. The sound of the words that were said by his grandfather made him wish that his grandfather never said that.

While looking straight ahead he saw Masood coming toward them to ask whether they wanted to join the harvesting. His grandfather agreed and went off to harvest. Crowded with other people whom the little boy (narrator) knew, his attention suddenly came to Masood. While looking at him he remembered that Masood once told a little boy to not cut the heart of a palm tree as it is also a living thing like a human. He also told this to the boy (the narrator) that the palm trees also have feelings like happiness or sadness.

The little boy saw some people weighing the dates , while other people were taking five to six of them and started munching, he even was munching on a few of the dates. Suddenly his attention came to his grandfather and Masood that were talking to each about the fifty pounds that Masood was still owing to his grandfather. Looking at Masood the little boy had some strange pain in chest. Then without knowing why, the little boy ran to the river bank. While he was running he started to feel some hatred towards his grandfather. Finally, at the river bank he threw up the dates that he ate, in the river that was once so pure for him.

In your opinion do you think that the little boy will forgive is grandfather or will he still hate him ?

Janus- By: Ann Beattie

"Sometimes some people are in love with something that is not even living " This story is about a young lady named Andrea who is a real- estate agent. She lives with her husband in a small house. Andrea is a very superstitious girl because she thinks that a bowl helps her sell all the houses that she puts up for sale. She also thinks that the bowl helps her make more clients. The bowl is a very noticeable object. It has a cream colour glaze appearance that glows in any kind of light that would be shining on it. The bowl also has a few bits of colours in it that are in geometric shapes. Andrea’s technique for selling the houses was the bowl. She did this by bringing it to the house that she would be selling, so that people would look at the bowl, comment on it, and would bid on the house. Andrea had a very profitable year with selling houses, and it was all because of the bowl. Everyone whoever went to see the house that was for sale would forget about looking at the house and comment on the bowl. Andrea loved her bowl; she would always keep it safe and take it with her wherever she would go. She would always talk about it with her husband and her husband who loves her so much would always support her in what she thought and said. During a night, she was questioning herself about whether or not was she starting to have a relationship with the bowl? Was she starting to love her bowl more than her husband? She thought about it for a while and finally realised that whatever she was thinking was ridiculous. Then she started go in flashback about how she got the bowl, which was at the crafts fair. Her husband bought the bowl for her as a present. She thought about how much her husband loved her and whatever he did for her that would make her really happy. Such as buying presents that were very valuable. As the clock was ticking, Andrea was sitting in the living room staring at the bowl that shined blue light......

A City of Churches- By: Donald Barthelme

" Sometimes believing a person could be a deceit " This story is about a young lady named Cecelia. She is new to a city named Prexter -a city of churches. Cecelia went to real estate person named Mr Phillips. Mr Phillips showed her the town and told her that every person that is in this town lives in churches that are right next to each other. She was looking forward in starting a car rental business so she asked him about whether or not is this a good idea. Mr Phillips said that no one owns a car here and that if someone owns a car that means they are going somewhere. He also said that the people that live in Prexter don’t often go anywhere but starting a car rental business might be a good idea. While walking pass many churches they opened a door of a building and entered a good sized room which was perfect for Cecelia. This room had a bed, a rug , tables , chairs , lamps, also there were windows that were on all four sides and last but not the least four huge bells that hung in the centre of the room. While looking at the bells Cecelia questioned about whether or not these bells rang. Mr Phillips answered yes to that question. Before Cecelia could ask anything else, the doors of the other churches started to open and people came out and started staring at Cecelia and Mr Phillips. A young man from the crowd finally yelled that Mr Phillip’s is lying, everyone in this town owns car, and there is not one person that lives in Prexter who doesn’t own a car. Cecelia asked Mr Phillips about whether if this was true and he answered yes. Now Cecelia wanted to leave the town and did not want to start a car rental business since there was not one person who didn’t own a car in Prexter. But Mr Phillips gripped her arm and stopped her from leaving the town. He told her that she is not going anywhere and that she has to start a car rental business in Prexter........

The Second tree from the Corner – By: E.B White

" Sometimes some people have the desire to live only" This story starts in a Psychiatrist’s office when the psychiatrist asks a question to Mr Trexler about whether or not he gets any bizarre thoughts. Trexler took some time to answer that question because he did not like to share any thoughts with the psychiatrist, but finally he said no. After a twenty minute session the doctor told Trexler that he was only scared and that there was no other problem with him. The doctor figured this out because for every question he asked him, Trexler would move away from the psychiatrist’s desk. That day Trexler left his office but returned every day of the week for another session, which gave him some time to get used to the psychiatrist.

The final session of the week finally had come. In this session, the psychiatrist asked Trexler about what did he want or achieve in life. Trexler did not know what he wanted in life so he started asking the same question to the psychiatrist. This was Trexler’s habit of becoming the person that he knows. For example he knows the barber at the barbershop, and sometimes he would try to become the barber and start cutting his hair. Now he was trying to become the psychiatrist and make the psychiatrist his patient. The psychiatrist answered the question anyway by saying that wanted money so that he could do the things that he wanted to do. Trexler got angry and said that if he's the one asking the question to the psychiatrist then for why is he paying the money to the psychiatrist. He left the office and on the way home he was thinking what he actually wanted in life.

On the way home, he got the dizziness symptoms and was standing by a tree in the park. While looking at other trees he said that he wanted the second tree from the corner. When he got on the bus he thought about the bizarre thought that he just had in the park .........

Zelig- By: Benjamin Roseblatt

" Sometimes you might have to sacrifice your dreams for others" This story is about an old man named Zelig, who had a very awkward appearance. He lived with his wife, son and grandson, in New York. Zelig was a type of person who did not like to socialize with other people. He would just go to work which is the cloak shop and do what he was told. Many people would comment about him either that he was weird or he was an alien, because he would never smile or even talk to anyone. He even wore different clothes than other people. Every day Zelig would save every penny that he got from his job and put it under his pillow. He did this because his desire was to go back to Russia and die where he was born. One day Zelig got the news about his son getting a sudden attack because he suffered from tuberculosis. Zelig ran to get a physician but the physician said that there was no chance of survival. After a few days his son had died. Now Zelig was living with his wife and grandson. After a month or two Zelig had enough money to go to Russia, so he was planning when to go. But, his grandson told his grandma who was Zelig’s wife that he did not want to go to University in Russia but in New York. He said this because he knew the Russian Universities will never accept him. Zelig got really angry at him but his wife explained to him about her son’s death, and also to feel pity for his grandson for once. That night Zelig was thinking about what to do whether to let his grandson stay in New York or take him and his wife to Russia. After a while he figured out what to do and told his grandson that he can continue his education in New York.