As many of you know, I have become an overnight fan of Mr. T. Coraghessan Boyle. It started when I read his short story, Chicxulub. Then, last week I reviewed She Wasn’t Soft, from his short story collection, ‘After the Plague’.
This week I read ‘Nighttime in the Pool’, which appeared in the New Yorker, here.
The story opened with two couples traveling in Belize and Guatemala, on the cheap. They traveled on the regular buses and were staying away from the all inclusive spots. They even stayed in a cheap hotel across from an insane asylum, “where day and night the inmates pressed their faces against the iron bars and moaned and shook and shouted unintelligibly?”‘
The two couples could hardly wait until they arrived in Mexico, where they “would spring for a real hotel a little luxury by way of compensation for all the rough–but illuminating–living.” When they arrived at the more luxurious hotel in Mexico, they were so excited to find out there was a swimming pool. “Here was a chance to shed some of the grit of the road.”
There was very little light at the pool and the water felt funny, but that didn’t stop one of the men from going in and doing a couple of laps. They next morning the man went to the pool and “made some overlapping discoveries”.
This is a very short story of only one page. Too short you say, for anything of substance? Not true, good stories can come in tiny packages. Believe it or not Boyle did it again. This time he developed an entire story only one page in length. If you haven’t read anything by . T. Coraghessan Boyle, what are you waiting for? Go now, be sure to start with Chicxulub, here.
If you would like to participate in Short Story Mondays or just find out about some great short stories, go to John of The Book Mine Set. He has a short story review every Monday and a place for you to link your short story reviews. Come join in the fun!
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