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.