Who Made Yellow Roses Yellow? by John Updike

Fred Platt, a long lost friend calls Clayton Clayton out of the blue using a fictitious story. After being transferred through several secretaries, Fred is finally able to talk to Clayton. After listening to the prank pitch, Clayton asks if the caller is Fred. Fred playfully queries Clayton "Who are all these girls you live in the midst of?" Clayton inquires if Fred is still studying at the Sorbonnet which Fred replies in French. After Clayton insists that his schedule was completely booked, Clayton grudgingly invites Fred to lunch. Fred is unemployed trying to bait a position at Clayton's office. The two haven't talked in three years. Fred went to the war while Clayton stayed home. Their awkward departure as Clayton says, "Well, back to the salt mines." Fred responds, "Ye are the salt of the earth."

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and So Forth

Mark Prosser is a high school teacher. The first line of his thoughts wonders if Gloria Andrews would wear that sweater . . . with very short sleeves. Prosser and his class are studying Macbeth which Mr. Prosser wants to help them understand. Being typical high school students, the boys try to impress the girls, especially Gloria. Mr. Prosser also understands what they are thinking and feeling. During recitations Mr. Prosser sees Gloria pass Peter, her classmate, a note. He immediately seizes upon the note. He opens and reads "Pete -- I think you're wrong about Mr. Prosser. I think he's wonderful and I get a lot out of his class. He's heavenly with poetry. I think I love him. I really do love him. So there."
After class Gloria is instructed to remain behind. Mr Prosser begins: "It is not only rude to scribble when a teacher is talking, it is stupid to put one's words down on paper, where they look much more foolish than they might have sounded if spoken."
"What was it, Mark asked himself, these young people were after? What did they want?" After Gloria leaves the phys-ed teacher, Strunk, comes in to share the daily gossip. He tells Prosser how Gloria had written the same love note to Murchison that same day and that the same thing had happened to Fryeburg the day before. Mr. Prosser is incredulous but maintains a disinterest in the story. He really believed that he was the one she loved. The last line of the story sums up the story: "The girl had been almost crying; he was sure of that."

Ace in the Hole by John Updike

Ace is probably in his early twenties and living with Evey, his girlfriend. Ace has just been fired from his job and doesn’t want to tell Evey. He drives to his parent’s house which is just down the block from his house. His baby, Bonnie, is a young cute baby that his parents were taking care of while he was at work. He makes his way home while mentally preparing for the confrontation he knows he will have with Evey. Evey wants an explanation of why he got fired. He was parking a ’51 Chevy his boss had just bought and in the process scrapes the car up. He tries to defend his actions as his boss told him to put the car in the hole between two other cars. Evey notes, “you could have looked and moved the other cars to make more room.” Evey explodes at Ace’s nonchalant attitude toward getting fired again. She is fed up with him and ready to move on. Ace moves into a soliloquy proclaiming that they need to have a boy. They end up dancing mainly to allow Ace to deflect the situation.

The Kid's Whistling

Roy works in a department store where he has worked alone most nights. During the summertime the store hires on high school kids. This year it was Jack. One problem that Roy had with Jack is that Jack whistled all the time which annoyed Roy. Maureen, Roy’s significant other shows up out of the blue. It is late and she has gotten wet from walking the six blocks in the rain. Her presence unsettles Roy more than Jack’s whistling. Maureen knows Roy is working late during the Christmas season but feels the need to check up on Roy. Roy is painting a sign with the word ‘Toyland’ on it. Roy painstakingly brushes the letters adding glitter while they are wet. He brush strokes the final letter and realizes that it is wrong. He notes: “It was nothing Simmons [his boss] or anybody would notice—who looked at signs, anyway? –but Roy knew it had been ruined, and now knew why. The kid had stopped whistling.”

A Sense of Shelter by John Updike

Kari got me a collection of short stories for Christmas which I am just now beginning to read. They are all from John Updike. William Young, also known as Mip, is one of the loners at school. He isn't really friends with anyone but he doesn't seem to mind this either. He claims that "exclusion is itself a form of inclusion." William is madly in love with a girl names Mary Landis. And unlike most students in the high school, William actually feels comfortable at school, as his own home away from home. Unfortunately Mary is tired of school and can't wait to get out. William confesses his love while Mary attempts to deflect any of his feelings as if he were telling jokes. The ending leaves both unsure of their futures

My Father on the Verge of Discrace by John Updike

This is a great story. The narrator is the son or daughter of a prominent man who is active in his community and who is a high school teacher. He is put in charge of the money for the football games. Each night after the game he takes the money home with him. Unfortunately, he steals this money in order to sustain his family. The era is during and after the great depression and so he feels justified in what he is doing. He has other secrets that are revealed to those in his town. (Crying out on the steps of a building at the University of Pennsylvania "Heil Hitler!"; (This before the US was involved in the war); Passing notes from a boy to a girl in one of his classes...) As I read this story last night I thought of the houses burning in California. One sentence struck out at me "Burning," went another of his chemical slogans, "destroys nothing. It just shuffles the molecules." John Updike delivers again in this story of disgrace (or what is perceived as disgrace)

The Walk With Elizanne by John Updike

I absolutely love this story. This is about David Kern who goes back to his to 50 year reunion where he finds a long lost schoolmate named Elizanne.
"As the classmates began to shuffle toward the door and whatever fate the next five years would bring, Elizanne came up to David, resting a hand on his forearm and speaking with a firm, lilting urgency, almost as if she were speaking to herself.
"David," she said, in this running murmur, "there's something I've been wanting for years to say to you. You were very important to me. You were the first boy who ever walked me home and --- and kissed me."
Shortly after he replies:
'"I remember that walk," he said. But did he? The walk; for weeks after the reunion his mind could not let go of the walk she reminded him they had taken.'

The end of the story reverts back to the walk he had with her.

She says, "I chatter. I go on too much."
"You didn't. It was like you were singing to me. . . . And there was even more," she said . . . that I wanted to say."
"You will, he promised . . . I want to hear it all," he told Elizanne. "We have t-tons of time."

John Updike does a masterful job at capturing David's innermost thoughts and struggles to relive and even remember the past. The Walk with Elizanne is definitely one of the best short stories I have read from the year 2004.