The White Horse

The narrator of this story is Nell. A friend of Nell’s rescued an old mistreated mare and gave her to Nell and Tig. Nell took great care of her as if it were her child. She learned to ride her and decided to name her Gladys. Nell's sister Lizzie came over one day to visit, when she was having one of her crises. A psychiatrist diagnosed her with schizophrenia and gave her pills that made her sluggish and apathetic. The psychiatrist told Nell that it would be extremely dangerous to reveal her condition to Lizzie. Eventually, they consulted a specialist and it turned out that the psychiatrist had lied about everything and the pills were unnecessary and dangerous to Lizzie’s health. Lizzie resented Nell for not telling her about the diagnosis. She became energetic again and was fond of riding along Gladys. In the meantime, Nell became pregnant. Lizzie left the farm, her crises stopped, and she got married. One night, the white mare escaped from the barns, ended up on the streets, and was killed by a car.

The Other Place

As a young adult, the narrator travelled a lot, going from job to job. During this time, her friends were all settled down with great families, while she was still wandering around single. She wondered whether she would always be alone and roaming or would she eventually settle down. At one time, she was living in an apartment in Vancouver and a similarly lonely friend named Tig came often to visit. He told her about when his three brothers almost killed him in a cruel joke by locking him in an icebox. They became close and spent a lot of time together. A few months later, she married Tig and lived the settled life she was always thinking about. She had often dreamed of being in an apartment similar to the one she had in Vancouver and of knowing that a child was locked away dying in one of the rooms. She wondered if the place in her dream represented the past or was a place in her future.

The Headless Horseman

The narrator of the story was a girl named Nell who was getting ready for her favourite day of the year, Halloween. Nell decided to be the Headless Horseman for Halloween, she had gotten the idea from a story she had read in her English class. She designed her costume and the head of the horseman herself, but no one understood her concept of why she was a headless horseman. After her unsuccessful attempt of being the headless horseman the year she was fourteen, she used the head of her costume to frighten her two-year-old sister. Years passed, Nell and her sister had both grown up to be young women. Nell had moved out of the village to live and work in the city as an independent woman. Her sister was still living with her parents. A few months later, Nell returned home to stay with her younger sister because her parents were gone for a vacation to Europe. Nell had come home after such a long time and she was really enjoying spending time with her younger sister. The two sisters spent a lot of time looking back and talking about their childhood memories. Nell mentioned the Halloween, when she was dressing up as the headless horseman but no one understood her costume. They both looked for the head part of the costume and managed to find it in the storage room.

The Art of Cooking and Serving

This narrator of this story is an eleven-year-old girl who is awaiting the arrival of her baby sister. The young girl had been given the responsibility of taking care of the house and her expecting mother. The story started with the girl knitting clothes for her baby sister.. The young girl had no choice but to do all the housework herself because the doctor had told her that her mother would be in a dangerous condition until the birth of the baby. She had to cook and clean all day. One day, she was about to make breakfast for her family and she began rummaging through cookbooks. She picked up a book called The Art of Cooking and Serving and began flipping through it. There was a picture of a woman on the front of the cookbook. In one picture, the woman was old-fashioned and in the other, she was modernized according to the girl. The young girl felt that she wanted to be liked the modernized woman whom everyone liked more. A few months later, her baby sister was born and even though, her mother had given birth, she was still very weak and unable to take care of the baby. The young girl was again given the responsibility to take care of her baby sister. As time passed, the baby was growing up and the girl was now thirteen. She was in highschool, but she never had any time for herself and was constantly looking after her two-year-old sister. The girl kept recalling the picture on the cookbook and how the old-fashioned woman was exhausted and sad, whereas the modern woman was healthy, pretty and happy. The young girl realized that she wanted to be like the modern one. She wanted to have fun and enjoy her teen years like her friends, not take care of her sister. One day, her mother was doing laundry, as the baby began to cry loudly. The mother told the girl to go check on the baby, but the girl refused and said it was not her baby, so why would she look after her. Following that, the teenager was given the freedom she had been eagerly waiting for.

A Television Drama

Carolee Mitchell was going about her day as usual; cleaning and tidying, when she suddenly heard sirens from outside. There were commotions on the street, which she assumed to be kids returning from school. A bird caught her eye and directed her to the activity on the street. She saw many police cars and dogs, and neighbours standing outside crowding the streets. Police officers warned the bystanders to remain inside their homes but no one moved, as they were all anxious to find out what was going on. Carolee remained standing in front of her picture window, looking outside with confusion. She wondered if someone had been murdered but it did not seem very likely for a murder to take place in this neighbourhood in the afternoon. She heard radios and dogs barking, but nothing was going on, so she thought about whether she should distract herself with housework. Instead, she went to Pete’s study to get a better view, there she saw a wounded man lying in her garden. She felt that should she help him, but did not know how. The man tried to walk and soon after, was lying on his back surrounded by police officers. Carolee heard on the radio, that the man had robbed a bank and shot a police officer. She silently watched the man being loaded in an ambulance. Around five o’clock, her husband Pete returned home and made sure she was all right. Carolee did not tell Pete about what she had seen. Later, sitting with Pete, safe in her home, Carolee grew scared of the war, firings and bombs around the world because that instance, everything seemed real to her even though it was on television.

A Handful of Dates

The narrator of this story is a young boy who is extremely fond of his grandfather and wants to be just like him when he grows up. He also loves reading the Koran and going to the Mosque with his grandfather. One day, he asked his grandfather about their neighbour Masood and why he did not like him very much. His grandfather told him that Masood is an indolent man and he didn’t like such people. The boy thought that his grandfather had always owned all the land and he would get it when he grew up. Soon after, he realized that his grandfather took advantage of Masood by waiting for when he was under great financial pressure and took two-thirds of his land. Later on, Masood invited them to join in the date harvesting. Many people gathered to harvest, and as someone hacked a date palm, Masood told him to be careful and not cut the heart of the palm. The boy’s grandfather gave him a handful of dates, so he began to eat them. The dates were divided amongst three men, leaving nothing for Masood, even though they were his to begin with. The boy’s grandfather said that Masood was in debt to him. This made the boy feel upset and realize his grandfather was a very selfish person. He did not want to inherit land that was achieved by taking advantage of someone. The boy’s grandfather then proceeded to head home, thinking that his grandchild to follow. Instead, the boy ran to the river, ignoring his grandfather, and spewed out the dates he had just eaten.