People in Hell Just Want a Drink of Water by Annie Proulx

This is a fabulous story about the Tinsleys who live in Texas during the Great Depression. Mrs Tinsley was a woman of nerves who was-- "distracted and fretted by shrill sounds . . . As they crossed the Little Laramie, the infant howling intolerably . . . Mrs Tinsley stood up and hurled the crying infant into the water . . . . As if to make up for her fit of destruction, Mrs Tinsley developed an intense anxiety for the safety of the surviving children tying them to chairs in the kitchen lest they wander outside and come to harm."

One of their sons, Ras, left home to travel the world. He is severely injured but back at home starts chasing women. He has natural urges that he can never tame and which lead to his ultimate demise. A powerful story about trying to bride passions. The final line regarding the story reads:

"If you believe that [the story], you'll believe anything."

What kind of furniture would Jesus pick? by Annie Proulx

Annie Proulx does a masterful job in capturing irony on paper. "Where is that stupid mailman?" his mother said, pulling back the curtain and looking for the plume of dust along the road. The woman is waiting for an "Inheritance" from the California State Allocation Department. The woman's son had interited a ranch but she was to fill out information and send it in to the "Department" to recieve her inheritance. This story is an axiom that can be applied to today: if it's too good to be true it probably is.