Charles by Shirley Jackson in 1948

 I read Jackson’s famous short story, “Lottery” some decades ago. The last scene was a horrific surprising ending. I learned that she got a lot of hate mail.

This one, “Charles,” is also a surprise ending story, but not horrific. I enjoyed the story.

[Spoiler] Laurie is naughty and tells his parents a lie every day he comes back home from kindergarten. He talks about how bad Charles is. His parents become so curious ( I became as curious as they are). When Laurie’s mother meets the teacher, she says, “You must have your hands full in that kindergarten, with Charles.” The teacher responds, “Charles? We don’t have any Charles in the kindergarten.”

A nice ending. It was humorous, too.

"Night Surf " written by David W. Burns

“Night Surf,” written by David W. Burns, is an astonishing short story—one of the most memorable I’ve ever read. It stands beside the finest short fiction I know, such as "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce and "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe.

One of the story’s greatest strengths is the dual nature of the creature—both Cassie and a Nereid sea nymph. As a Nereid, she is cool, distant, and otherworldly; as Cassie, she becomes warm, human, and quietly tender. This contrast gives the story emotional depth.

The narrative succeeds because it follows the timeless principle of crafting a moving story: crushing hopelessness just before the ending, followed by the faintest glimmer of hope in the final moment. And that hope arrives beautifully in the last line:

“Next time, bring more of the pink ones.”

In that single sentence, we understand that the old man—the protagonist—will return, prepared with an abundance of pink jelly beans, carrying with him the fragile promise of connection.

This short story was published in 2019. It won the Grand Prize in the 14th Annual Writer's Digest Popular Fiction Awards.