A Small, Good Thing (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Raymond Carver
- First Published: 1983
- Type of Plot: Realism
- Time of Work: The late twentieth century
- Setting: A town in the United States
- Principal Characters: Howard Weiss,, Ann, Scotty, A baker,
- Genres: Realism, Short fiction
- Subjects: Parents and children, Accidents, Death or dying, Hospitals, Sympathy
The Story
Ann Weiss is not pleased with the baker from whom she orders her son Scotty's eighth birthday cake. Though the baker is of an age to have children, and even grandchildren, he takes no interest in her son's birthday and seems to have no time for small talk. The transaction is direct and impersonal, and Ann leaves the bakery vaguely disgruntled by the man's coldness.
Two days later, on his birthday, Scotty and a friend are walking to school when Scotty is hit by a car and knocked to the pavement. The driver of the car stops, but drives on when Scotty gets up,...
[The entire page is 1289 words long]
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