The Roommate - Lucinda Gunnin

Author: Lucinda Gunnin Date: 2010 Setting: Southern Illinois, the city of Carbondale, in the present Availability: in the anthology Consequences

Story: Tina Black has come to hate everything about the man who is staying in her home. Bob was a friend, an Army veteran, who needed a temporary place to stay. Now, more than a year later, he won’t leave. Tina’s husband, Doug, is too polite to ask him to find a place of his own, and she can’t bring herself to do anything about the situation, either. Bob is so selfish and annoying that Tina has begun to contemplate killing Bob.

Their city, Carbondale in southern Illinois, has been fortuitously spared from tornado strikes throughout history. But on this sultry summer day their deaf cat begins to act strangely and seems to be trying to make Tina follow him into the basement. Just in the nick of time, Tina realizes that a funnel cloud is bearing down on the neighborhood. She and the cat huddle under the basement stairs as the house above them is ripped to shreds.

But, Bob was asleep in an upstairs bedroom. What has happened to him?

Commentary: The Roommate takes a look at the literary phenomenon known as a pathetic fallacy, where the weather is a mirror for the mood of the story or protagonist. But, it is more than that, as Tina struggles with the guilt of her many hours spent wishing that Bob were dead. After the storm, although she is injured and in shock, she is constantly plagued by the guilt she feels over not warning Bob to get into the basement. Is his fate somehow her fault?

Author info: Lucinda Gunnin (see lucindagunnin.com) has been published in several magazines under her maiden name of Lucinda Morgan, and writes for the Heartland Women Newspaper. She has had stories published in books from Twin Trinity Media, and won the Fall 2008 Writers Weekly 24-hour short story contest. Consequences is available as a paperback, or in ebook format.

Unusual Words:
misogynistic- the characteristic of hating women

Rating:
Language skills 5
Depth of meaning 6

The Fire - Jennifer Walker

Author: Jennifer Walker Date: 2010 Setting: The present, near Nevada City, CA Availability: In the anthology Elements of the Soul

Story: A young woman, Heather, has agreed to care for some of a friend's horses. Her friend, Sharon, is attending a horse show, with part of her stable. It is an oppressively hot and dry summer. When Heather and another friend, Christine, head toward the ranch to do the chores they realize that there is a fire burning in the general direction of the ranch. The closer they get, the more they realize that the fire is really close, and the horses will have to be evacuated.

With information from the local radio station, Heather learns that animals are being taken to the fairgrounds, but it is 10 miles from the ranch, there are four horses to move, and Sharon has the horse trailer with her. She knows that somehow she must lead the animals to safety. Christine tries to find a trailer to come pick up the Heather and the animals, while Heather tries to beat the fire as it comes over the ridge toward the road.

Commentary:Walker knows horses, and this is not a wild ride to safety such as you might see in a B movie. There is real tension as Heather tries to get the group of horses to cooperate and be led together. She is forced to ride one of them bareback, which becomes very uncomfortable for both her and the old horse, Bella. Heather has a real love for Bella, as she learned to ride on her, when they both were younger. Will they beat the fire?

This is a straightforward story of suspense with "man" against nature. There are sub-themes of friendship, loyalty, and honoring of promises.

Author info: Jennifer Walker (see AuthorJennWalker.com) has been published in Modern Arabian Horse, Arabian Horse Times, and Sierra Style. Her first novel for young adults, Bubba Goes National, was published in January 2010. You can read a review of Bubba Goes National at Shared Reviews.

Rating:
Language skills 8
Depth of meaning 7

 

To Build a Fire- Jack London

Author: Jack London Date: 1908 (earlier version for youth published 1902) Setting: The Yukon in the late 1800s Availability: Read To Build a Fire on line, free

Story: A lone man and a dog are traveling on foot through the Yukon winter to reach another camp. The story takes place all on one day. He stops for lunch and builds a fire to warm himself as he eats. As he continues on he must avoid stepping through soft spots on the Yukon Trail under which springs still bubble with running water. The man is not as knowledgeable as he should be about the effects of sub-zero weather. He attempts to be careful, but his inexperience becomes a problem. The dog, although a companion, has been tamed by force not kindness, and sees the man only as a source of food and warmth, not as someone to whom he would be faithful.

This is a classic tale of the brutality of the northland, and man's attempt to conquer that environment.

I chose to review this well-known story first, because it is one of my all-time favorites. While most people probably interact with this story as though it were a foreign environment, one to which they have trouble relating, this story really grabbed me. As a person who was always more at home outdoors, easily building fires, and scoffing at the elements, "To Build a Fire" jolted me to my core when I first read it in 9th grade. Here was a grown man, dressed appropriately for the weather, being somewhat careful, and yet making fateful mistakes. Perhaps I wasn't quite as invincible as I thought I was, and I vowed to become an even better outdoorswoman.

London was an acknowledged master at tales of the far north, and his understanding of dogs. His best known novels are Call of the Wild and White Fang. He brought home to readers, seated near their warm fires, compelling tales of prospectors and hunters from the Yukon. With an economy of words he painted pictures of landscapes, weather, and the place of humans and animals within that framework. Many authors become forever linked to certain settings which are foreign to their readers. For the Yukon, those authors are surely Jack London, and Robert Service (poet).

Unusual Words:
chechaquo- a tenderfoot- one who had not yet spent a winter in the Yukon
niggerhead- a tussock of grass that becomes more humped up each year until it becomes like a small island which shows above the snow

Spoiler: click more to read commentary that may spoil your enjoyment of reading the story.