Concession: three short stories

By I.M. Gerhi

A collection of three short stories by I.M. Gerhi

These three short stories are all less than 1500 words in length. They deal with social conventions, culture, and the concessions we make to each other to be part of society.

These three stories are also published in ABRUPTLY: a short story collection in four sets.

 

Way Up Here

"Sometimes, such as now, the stands are more than half empty. The stadium sound hollow with an intermittent lone cheer."

Sitting in an unnamed stadium, waiting for an unnamed event. Are these experiences the same for all of us?

In the short story WAY UP HERE, the unnamed narrator muses about his place in the world. As well as the need to be a sports fan or not.

While he is doing this, he suffers from the mundane conflicts of the perpetually bored.

 

The Bigger Tipper

"Cindy lifted her coffee cup from the saucer. Coffee dripped from the paper thingy stuck to the bottom of the cup. "Really, how would you tip this?""

Going out for a cup of coffee or a meal is a pleasant experience, right?

What if something happens that makes it not so? Something that is unexpected and just, wrong? Something that leaves a bitter aftertaste in the mouth?

In the short story THE BIGGER TIPPER, Cindy and Doris discuss the pros and cons of tipping waiters in coffee shops.

Socialites Cindy and Doris lament the lack of service at local coffee shops. When Cindy says that she has something to complain about, Doris tells her about an encounter with a government official that gives a whole new meaning to the idea of a service economy.

 

Pressing Silence

"It started with a chitter and a chatter and a rustle behind the shelves."

For some of us, a library is a special place. A container of knowledge, wealth, and wonder. But for some of us, it is a hiding place, a place to get up to mischief, or a place where we are always told to keep quiet.

For Mrs. Gericott, a library was more than a special place. It was her home, her sanctuary, and her castle, and she would defend it against any invaders.

Will she ever be able to win the fight against the hooligans and the noisemakers?

She has happened on a system that seems to be quite effective.

 

I.M. Gerhi is the pen name Gerhi Janse van Vuuren used to publish his fiction. As a former high school teacher, Gerhi is also a fine art painter. I.M. Gerhi lives in Randburg, Gauteng, in sunny South Africa, with his wife, two sons, and two cats.

• Language: English
• Publisher: GPB Janse van Vuuren
• Release date: Dec 28, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223539100

I.M. Gerhi

I.M. Gerhi is the pen name Gerhi Janse van Vuuren used to publish his fiction. As a former high school teacher, Gerhi is also a fine art painter. I.M. Gerhi lives in Randburg, Gauteng, in sunny South Africa, with his wife, two sons, and two cats.

Book preview

Way Up Here

Sometimes the stands are full. People are packed in regulated layers of shouting flesh. The curvature of the stadium filled with a writhing mass of humanity.

When this happens, a wave can make it all the way around the stadium in one minute and fifty-nine seconds. Always one second short of two minutes. One hundred and nineteen seconds.

Sometimes, such as now, the stands are more than half empty. The stadium sounded hollow with an intermittent, lone cheer.

I can see sections of seating clearly demarcated in faded blue and red. The scraps of humanity bundle together, marring the rhythmic pattern of the seating.

There is a moment between. One moment the stadium is half empty, the next filled. I never catch that moment.

I have taken a section of the stands, and would fix my eyes on it, staring at the empty seeds until my eyelids feel gritty. Then I would blink, and when I look next, there would be people filling those same seats.

I don’t know how they come or how they manage to leave.

I am sitting where I always sit: block G, row 32, seat 12.

There is no seat 13 in row 32. I can stretch my legs out to the side. Not that it matters. This time, I am the only person in block G.

Block G is