Robert Turner's Revenge
First sentence: When Robert Turner came to the green, ferny triangle where the station road forked to the right and left under the birches, he hesitated as to which direction he would take.
Premise/plot: Robert Turner has waited his whole life to get revenge on a childhood enemy. Will he changes his mind when he realizes that the person he'll be hurting most is his former sweetheart?
My thoughts: It was just okay for me.
The Fillmore Elderberries:
First sentence: "I expected as much," said Timothy Robinson. His tone brought the blood into Ellis Duncan's face. The lad opened his lips quickly, as if for an angry retort, but as quickly closed them again with a set firmness oddly like Timothy Robinson's own.
Premise/plot: Ellis Duncan's father has died. Ellis finds it a real struggle to get work since he's a boy--not a "man" and since his father was known for his laziness. Fair or not, Ellis is going to have to prove himself to his community if he is to make it. And prove himself he does when he tackles a difficult job--clearing a pasture of elderberries/elders.
My thoughts: I liked this one so much better than Robert Turner's Revenge.
The Finished Story
First story: She always sat in a corner of the west veranda at the hotel, knitting something white and fluffy, or pink and fluffy, or pale blue and fluffy—always fluffy, at least, and always dainty. Shawls and scarfs and hoods the things were, I believe. When she finished one she gave it to some girl and began another. Every girl at Harbour Light that summer wore some distracting thing that had been fashioned by Miss Sylvia's slim, tireless, white fingers.
Premise/plot: Miss Sylvia stars in this short story. She is a magnet for young people. And young people love to tell her stories. One young man is a writer who shares a story he's hoping to have published. In the story, a young man goes away from his lover without declaring his love for her. He thinks it's nobler that way since they can never be together. Miss Sylvia is opinionated. Can she change his mind?
My thoughts: This one is definitely my favorite of the three.
But one evening, when I had known her a month, as time is reckoned, and long years as affection and understanding are computed, she told me her story—at least, what there was to tell of it. The last chapter was missing.
I was reading one of my stories to Miss Sylvia. In my own excuse I must allege that she tempted me to do it. I did not go around with manuscripts under my arm, inflicting them on defenceless females. But Miss Sylvia had discovered that I was a magazine scribbler, and moreover, that I had shut myself up in my room that very morning and perpetrated a short story. Nothing would do but that I read it to her.
© 2018 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
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