Man from the South

This short story can be found HERE. I was searching for good stories that could have a great life long impact, and I came to Man from the South by Roald Dahl.

Read it and share your thoughts.

My thoughts: From this story, I gathered a couple of lesson, steer clear of crazies, and never be too prideful.

I'll assume you haven't read it and give you the details.

Setting: Poolside of a Hotel in Jamaica

Main Characters: Old Southern Man, Young American Sailor, and Narrator

Plot:
- Sailor offers a light for the Southern's cigar and mentions that "The lighter always lights".
- Southerner proposes a bet with these terms:
-If the lighter lights 10 times in a row, the Southern man will give the boy his Cadillac.
- If it does not light 10 times in a row, the Southern man will cut off and take the Sailor's pinkie finger.

Crazy right?

- They all got up to the Southern man's hotel room, tie the Sailor's hand to the table, and with his other hand he starts to flick the lighter.
- When the counts to the number 8, an angry woman bursts into the room and reprimands the old man and mentions that he has lost several of HER Cadillacs, as well as collected several fingers, and in order to stop him she had to win everything from him so he had nothing left to bet.

Here's the kicker...
---> "She looked up at the boy and she smiled, a slow sad smile, and she came over and put out a hand to take the key [to her car] from the table.

I can see it now, that hand of hers; it had only one finger on it, and a thumb."

My reaction: Wow! That man has to be a lunatic and that woman was bold!! This story should be a lesson to you. Stay away from strangers especially strangers who propose crazy bets. Also, we don't know if the boy would have been able to light the lighter for the 9th and 10th times, so never leave the fate of your limbs to the luck of a lighter even when there is a Cadillac at the other end of the deal.

♥ Marquitta J