I pride myself as a "bookish" guy who is well versed in classical literature, 20th century literature, and modern-day literature (I go to various bookstores just to browse the covers for this express purpose), but I admittedly am not caught up on every single piece of literature ever written, but especially so for short stories. For some reason famous short stories I know range from melancholy to sad to horrific, like a bunch of Edger Allen Poe's works (Cask of Amontillado where a guy gets buried alive, the Tell-Tale Heart where someone's heart is beating loudly throughout the house), Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, where someone gets stoned to death, or Guy Maupassant's "The Necklace," where a woman spends years trying to repay a debt on a necklace and living in poverty only to find that the necklace was a fake and worth almost nothing..... (sad!) to The Monkey's Paw, which came up as a J6! answer in today's edition. J6! is a fun game, an extra round of Jeopardy that has multiple choice (MJ's favorite) that were written as real clues for a category but were thrown out because each category only needs 5 clues.
I guess these horror short stories are more engaging and leave a lasting impression, but Monkey's Paw is another scary short story basically about getting 3 wishes, but then being careful what you wish for, as the first wish by the old couple who have the monkey's paw inadvertently kills their son, then the 2nd wish is to revive the son from the dead, but then they get scared by what the son will be as an "undead" that the 3rd wish is spent wishing the son disappear again. Scary stuff but definitely another cautionary tale about wanting things so bad but they might not turn out like you wished they would. Like going on Jeopardy. Or having a child; that's definitely ripe for Monkey's Paw consequences. Or... when I was in law school I was desperate to get a job at a law firm, any job, because that would lead to a career in law, a prestigious field, and give me job security, maybe one day I'll make partner, win a big case, but almost most importantly, get my name on a website as an assoicate at a law firm, to show everyone who googled my name that I had made it. Well, I did finally get a job at a law firm and my name on their website, but it's like Peter Parker aka Spiderman says, "with great power comes great responsibility." I have big responsibilities on the case that I'm working on for the law firm, but because of my position I have to always be on task, always assign the contract attorneys with tasks, meanwhile also reporting to the partner above me who has tasks for me and assumes I am handling everything including leading the contract attorney team. I'm drowning in responsibilities, and all because I wished all those years ago for a law firm job. I almost wish that the case would settle and I would not have the job anymore, but hen that risks the wrath of the Monkey Paw the other way: I might never get a job again and be wishing I still had this current job. Life is cruel.
Another short story clue today was about an apparently viral short story I missed in 2023, "Cat Person." Apparently the guy in the story is a needy, fake, not-good-at-sex dude in his mid-thirties named "Robert" who eventually stalks the female narrator (much younger woman) over texting and calls her a "whore." I Damn. I mean, I guess it could be worse? Could have had a Poe ending. Maybe I'll write a happy short story and make it famous. Call it "The Bobby's Claw."
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