Short Stories to Touch Your Heart

By Jeremy Taylor

Sad Short stories is a collection of six very moving stories taken from different walks of life: In Rapidly Downhill, A teenage boy teaches his grandfather, who has Parkinson's, how to play a game on an old mobile. In Champion's New Home, a Doberman pup called Champion, sees his siblings sold off to new homes and looks forward to his own new home. In Will You? A young student in a pottery class is looking for friends. Will she find what she's looking for? Playing God with František tells the story of a rich foreigner in Prague helping out a local guy. In Afternoon in Cairo, a businessman suffers in the hot streets of Cairo after losing his wallet. In the final story, The House That Billy Built, we meet Billy Francis, a very special schoolboy, whose life is transformed by a new teacher.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jeremy Taylor
• Release date: Feb 7, 2011
• ISBN: 9781458175915

Jeremy Taylor

I've been writing since 1984, had my first book published in 1989 and have published another 55 books since then. I write mostly for teenage learners of English but also write a lot of short stories.

Book preview

SHORT STORIES TO TOUCH YOUR HEART

Jeremy Taylor

Copyright 2015 by Jeremy Taylor

Smashwords Edition

http://www.jeremytaylor.eu

Cover photo Andy Medina

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

Rapidly Downhill

Champion’s New Home

Will you?

Playing God with František

Afternoon in Cairo

The House that Billy Built

RAPIDLY DOWNHILL

I don't think I'm the only teenager in the world who doesn't go wild about visiting his grandparents. When I was younger, things were very different. They magically appeared at birthdays and Christmas and gave us presents greatly superior to those our parents could afford. With hindsight, and a cynical teenage mind, it is easy to see that these were just bribes: we buy you expensive presents; you show us some love and affection. I do actually remember kissing my grandmother all over her face in gratitude for a radio-controlled car. In my defence, I was about four at the time.

I'm now seventeen. My mum is forty five with her parents being seventy (my nan) and seventy four (gramps). Now I'd noticed something was wrong with gramps before mum said anything. But one day she sat me down (tidy that bedroom? I've just had call from school...?) Not this time. I can't remember seeing my mum cry before. Grandad's dying were the only words she could get out before her shoulders started heaving and she sobbed loudly. Being seventeen, I don't do crying, but I did feel strange. I wasn't sure whether it was thinking about gramps or seeing my mum cry like a baby but I did feel pretty weird inside. Like when dad told me he was leaving us and going to live in