Short Stories: "The Storm" and "Robbed"

I happened upon a radio station that had story time, and heard these two colorful pieces. The first is "The Storm" by Jules Verne, and the second is "Robbed" by Ellen Currie. Fair warning that there is plot information throughout this post. Maybe you should go dig up a copy and read it first. Then write your own untainted review. Then come back and read and compare with mine.

The conclusion I've reached from short stories is that they are little bits of spice to life - quick vignettes that give color, perspective, and humor. They don't take a massive time commitment to read, they can force you to think about life. All in all, worth seeking out and reading.



Typically, Jules Verne is scientific. Think "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" or "Around the World in 80 Days". It is a unique style, but definitely scientific. While still stylistically Jules Verne, "The Storm" could otherwise have been written by Edgar Allen Poe; delving into the realms of the mysterious and unexplainable. It is also reminiscent of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens, insofar as the main character is an old crotchety man who has not yet learnt to care for other people.

Here, the main character is a doctor who charges up front for care, and won't help unless he is paid, even if someone is dying. In the middle of a storm, a dying man's daughter, wife, and mother in succession come to knock on his door, and eventually they sell the house to have enough money to tempt him to come. When he eventually begrudgingly arrives, he discovers the house is his own, and he himself is the patient. Try as he might, he waited too long and cannot save himself. The townsfolk discover him dead the next morning. The proverbial takeaways here are that money isn't everything and that you should do what you can to help your fellow man.



'Robbed' was a fun story. It looks at the mental aspects of two people put into an unusual situation, and how they react differently. A jewelry store owner is being held up, and a regular customer of hers walks in. Everything we find out about the customer we find out through the store owner having a conversation with the robber. Apparently the customer always loses her wedding ring, and has to get a new one custom-engraved with "X and Y" forever. The irony of this appears to be lost on the woman, whose marriage seems to be a bit tumultuous and whose rings are definitely not for forever. The author lampoons the customer by having her try to act macho. When that doesn't work the stereotypical 'damsel in distress' only to have all of her acts shot down by the store owner.

The store owner takes the whole affair quite calmly and has an amusing outlook on life, considering that, with the robbery, she comes out ahead in multiple ways. She didn't lose as much money as she would have lost in insurance, she doesn't have to deal with the obnoxious woman anymore. She knows someone will eventually come in and find them, so she doesn't bother with the cliches like screaming that probably won't help but will definitely make the situation more odious. Aside from her willingness to insult someone (at least she does it to her face), we should all take things in stride like that.