So I Guess You Know What I Told Him by Stephen Dobyns

A gas man is heading into the cellar of Floyd Beefus when he slips and falls. You would think that Floyd would be willing to help the gas man who lies at the bottom of the stairs with a broken leg. But Floyd believes is something more than casuality: that everything happens for a reason. Floyd explains why his wife is upstairs dying because of past transgressions of his. Floyd tries to convince the gas man that his fall down the stairs was for a reason. In the end the gas man is cursing Floyd...

A definately funny and insightful story.

So I Guess You Know What I Told Him by Stephen Dobyns

A gas man is heading into the cellar of Floyd Beefus when he slips and falls. You would think that Floyd would be willing to help the gas man who lies at the bottom of the stairs with a broken leg. But Floyd believes is something more than casuality: that everything happens for a reason. Floyd explains why his wife is upstairs dying because of past transgressions of his. Floyd tries to convince the gas man that his fall down the stairs was for a reason. In the end the gas man is cursing Floyd...
A definately funny and insightful story.

So I Guess You Know What I Told Him by Stephen Dobyns

A gas man is heading into the cellar of Floyd Beefus when he slips and falls. You would think that Floyd would be willing to help the gas man who lies at the bottom of the stairs with a broken leg. But Floyd believes is something more than casuality: that everything happens for a reason. Floyd explains why his wife is upstairs dying because of past transgressions of his. Floyd tries to convince the gas man that his fall down the stairs was for a reason. In the end the gas man is cursing Floyd...

The Story by Amy Bloom

Most stories are created by words, but it is this story that is created by what the author relates to the reader as what she has omitted from her story that makes this story complete. The Story is written in the 1st person omniscient view. The narrator tells a rather unremarkable story until she begins to interrupt her own story to inject omissions that were made. "Can I say that the husband was not any kind of importer?" or "I don't want to leave out the time Sandra got into a fight with Joe's previous girlfriend..."

It is these blatant omissions and retelling of them that make this truly "The Story". This is a picture that has been created out of words that I found online. This would not be a complete picture without the gaps.

The Mourning Door by Elizabeth Graver

Back in the 18th and 19th centuries there were in some homes what was known as the mourning door. Usually situated near the parlor, this door would allow for a cart to back up to it and a casket to be slid out right onto the cart. In this picture to the right you can see a 1720 house behind an old stone wall, with center chimney, rare window panes, overhang and side coffin door.

This is a story of a woman and her husband, Tom, who move into an old home. They find out about this extra door attached to the side of their house which has no steps leading to it, but rather has an abrupt ledge. The woman, unfortunately, cannot get pregnant but rather spends her time thinking about the baby that might be. She begins to discover "baby" parts that she sews back together. At the end of the story she exits the house through the mourning door to bury the baby. A very moving and powerful story about life and death.

Labors of the Heart by Claire Davis

Clarence John Softitch: Morbidly Obese 5'8" and 482 lbs. "Morbidly. As in deadly, not sadly, which is the way he's preferred to construe it." Clarence meets and falls madly in love with his new neighbor, Rose Spencer who is just getting over her 3rd divorce. A wonderfully written story of the loss of love of one and the ever yearning for loving affection of another. A must read!