South African Short Stories, Volume 1

BetaThanPaper Productions presents a collection of four short stories by South African authors:

"Killed" - Day after day, an involuntary blindness ensured Mrs. Tintoretto's sense of safety and security. As she moved through her everyday world, she made a habit of shutting out any disturbances which might upset her regularly patterned routine. It was not that she was callous, no - she was simply not equipped to deal with too much suffering. She certainly did not deliberately shut out the plight of the poor who lived on the streets of Pretoria; it was just that, to her, they remained inaccessible, invisible. But one day Mrs Tintoretto’s son is brutally murdered, and she cannot ignore the people on her streets any longer. This is the story about Mrs Tintoretto’s attempts to reconcile herself with grief, and, by means of compassion, transform both herself and her son’s killer. The story was first published in New Contrast , July, 2010.

"Sunnyside Sal" - Pretoria, South Africa, 1987. Two fifteen year old schoolboys decide to gate-crash a neo-Nazi AWB rally on Church Square wearing bell bottoms and ridiculous wigs while hoisting weirdly worded placards. It’s during the second State of Emergency of the year, the townships are in uproar and the border war is raging on. They have absolutely no idea what they’re doing. The two friends are quickly picked up by the security forces and are interrogated in a bizarre episode which is equally frightening and funny. It’s a peculiar episode which forms part of Anton Krueger’s memoir Sunnyside Sal (2010 Deep South Books).

"The Goats" - Gerald, a jazz musician living in Johannesburg, is summoned by Jack, his dying farmer uncle, to a clinic in a small dorp. Jack, an English speaking person, is a troubled bachelor who has lived alone for most of his life. While at his bedside, he receives an unexpected phone call from the farm - two neighbours, both Afrikaners, wish to buy goats as a matter of urgency.

"Fat Girl" - Fat Girl is the story of a girl who feels judged and alienated by society. It’s about the fears we all hold within us of how others perceive us, and the masks we choose to hide behind. Can the love and guidance of others ever free us from our own self-hatred? And if we are finally able to see ourselves as others see us, what effect will that have? We are all our own worst critics, and this tale of one girl’s inner journey, which all takes place at a bus stop, delves into that path of understanding we all need to walk.

©2011 Anton Krueger, Allan Kolski Horwitz, Karen Jaynes (P)2012 Beta Than Paper Productions CC