Short Story Monday (on Tuesday) Everything's Eventual

OK. So I'm a day off! Yesterday was still all wet and yucky. I didn't have any desire to even get out of bed. But today is bright and sunny. A much better day!! So, it's time for another edition of Short Story Monday, even though it's Tuesday. Again, this week, stories are from Stephen King's Everything's Eventual - 14 Dark Tales.

All That You Love Will Be Carried Away is the story of Alfie Zimmer. Alfie is a traveling salesman. He has spent years on the road selling everything from UPC code readers to frozen gourmet dinners. And tonight is just like any other night in Alfie's life. He has stopped at a Motel 6 in Nebraska, just like he has thousands of other nights. Except tonight is the night that Alfie is going to kill himself. Too many lonely nights on the road has led him to believe that he just can't live this way any more. But the one thing that has always given him comfort is his notebook. It is his only hobby. In it, he has recorded various graffiti that he has read in bathroom walls all over the country. And for this lonely man, the graffiti has taken on a voice all it's own. A voice that has kept him from being so lonely.

The Death of Jack Hamilton is the story of just that. The Death of Jack Hamilton, one of the members of John Dillinger's gang. The story is told by Homer Van Meter, another member of the gang. After the shoot-out at the Little Bohemia Lodge, Jack Hamilton takes a bullet that lodges in his lungs. Homer and John get away and try to make Jack comfortable and happy in his dying days. They end hiding away near Chicago with members of Ma Barker's Gang, Rabbits and Volney Davis.

Neither story this week is one that I would consider a horror story. In fact, both are rather sad little tales. Alfie Zimmer thinks he can't live his life any longer, and yet he clings to it in the very end. Does he or doesn't he pull the trigger? Well....that dear readers is really up to you to decide. And the story of John Dillinger is actually based on the real life escapades of the real-life criminal himself. Much of it is historically accurate, although the details of the last days of Jack's life, according to King is "pure myth". What the story is though, is fine writing about a ruthless legend, and a real story of friendship and loss. I can't say these will be my favorite stories, but they were both interesting and definitely worth reading.

Till next week.......