Bergen, Woodman, Addonizio

There were two stories in "Fiction Packet 1" that I found interesting. The first is "Ungulated" by Walter Bargen. I liked this short story because I own a garden and can relate to the characters frustration. The deer are disastrous to any garden and it is infuriating when your work so hard and are unable to enjoy its reward. In fact, we were so fed up with them being in the garden that we put up an electric fence that is ten feet high. The character also became fed up when she"stretches costly five-feet-high, woven-wire fencing above the plants to discourage any leaps of faith". That line made me laugh because those deer will do absolutely anything to get into a garden, including taking a running start to jump over a fence. What I also found interesting was that the title of this piece is ungulated. Ungulated, according to Websters Dictionary means hoofed. He made the title sound much more intelligent than just saying hoofed.

The next story, "Wallet" by Allen Woodman was also quite interesting. To me, this short story is spoken through a males voice. In addition, it was rather humorous. It is human nature to seek revenge against those that do harm to us. Whether is be a trespass to a chattel or land. The author did a really excellent job setting up the scene and allowing it to flow graciously. In another words, it was not choppy but the author let the story play out, act by act. From the preparation, to the cane as a "special effect", to the extra effort to bend over to grab the package of socks he dropped everything played out nicely.

This final story "Survivors" by Kim Addonizio, required a second read and some intelligence on the readers part. For example, it is clear from the first line "He and his lover were down to their last T cell's" that the couple is in fact dying from AIDS. From the beginning, the reader is able to understand that the characters are gay even though there is no use of the word "gay" until describing the "Gay Freedom Day" poster hanging on the bedroom wall.  This short story was creatively written because it did not show you what was happening, you actually had to think.