“look at our child. What does it mean? tell me.”

He coldly but gently loosened her fingers from about his arm and thrust the hand away from him.

“Tell me what it means!” she cried despairingly.

“It means,” he answered lightly, “that the child is not white..”

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Back in July, Emeire brought my attention to a challenge to 5 authors in the Walrus.  Each author was asked to make a list of 5 guidelines to write a short story or poem.  The lists were then traded and each author had to write a short story or poem according to the list of 5 guidelines received.  Three of the authors wrote short stories.

In August, I reviewed one of the stories, Madame Poirier’s Dog by Kathleen Winter. 
Now I have read the second story.
 
 The guidelines for Sarah Selecky’s story were written by Kathleen Winter.  One of the guidelines was “The story should have at least one paragraph that contains something the author personally finds subversive and hilarious.”   Selecky certainly achieved that for me!

The narrator’s father was reincarnated into a cat that lives with her.  

She start’s by saying, ” I am not at all surprised that my father has come back to earth in the form of a grey and white cat. It suits him. Though I do feel uncomfortable when I look into his yellow-green eyes. Those aren’t my father’s eyes — my father had blue eyes, with no yellow in them at all. Have you ever looked into a cat’s eyes and seen anything human? No. A cat has eyes like a hawk’s, or like a lizard’s. My father is no different: he has the eyes of a predator. His pupils grow large and black when he wants to bite.”

She goes on to describe how he use to love birds but now he liked to hunt them and how she plays with him as a cat.  She has many childhood memories of him as a human, like when she caught her first fish.

This is a fun story that cat lovers will especially enjoy.  Highly recommended!  You can read it here.

 Short Story Monday is hosted by John at The Book Mine Set.

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Earlier this year, I review two stories by Katherine Mansfield, The Fly and The Doll’s House.  I gave both much praise and a high recommendation.  Then I came across Bliss and saved it to review in the future.  I wondered if Mansfield would become a favorite classic author of mine or if Bliss would disappoint.

The answer, Mansfield has become a favorite.

Also Reviewed by:
Lakeside Musing

Short Story Monday is hosted by John at The Book Mine Set. Tweet