I loved this story.
It’s filed under ‘humor’ and it definitely made me laugh out loud a few times, in a black-humor kind of way.
The story begins,
“It’s a hot day and I hate my wife.”
There: that’s funny already. It’s the juxtaposition, the unexpectedness. I love it.
The story goes on in the same vein. The couple play Scrabble together and all we get is a torrent of emotions from the man who … hates his wife. He blames her for everything, despises everything about her and begins to fantasize about ways out of the situation.
It’s not the situation, nor the conclusion, nor even really the characters that make this such a great story. It’s the writing.
If you ever think up a scenario for a story then shoot yourself down, thinking ‘it’s been done before’, take a break and read this story. Only Charlie Fish could have written THIS story this way. Take heart from that, writers!