The document briefly summarizes four books in accordance with the rules of the Short Story book assignment. The storyline of each book is clearly defined and can be understood without having (fully) read the books.
The books are as follows:
1. The Elevator (William Sleator)
2. The Clock (Ala...
The Elevator (William Sleator)
Martin, a twelve-year-old, and his father who works from home moved into an old building.
Martin felt nervous from the first day they moved in, because there was an old elevator, very
small and with a maximum capacity of three people. He tried to figure out why the
atmosphere was unpleasant by naming different causes around it, but it all pointed back to
the elevator.
By trying to take the stairs he found himself to be a coward and decided that the elevator
was an undeniable fact of life, and he needed to get used to it, he didn’t.
After a while he came across a lady, very big with piggish features as he noticed she faced
her back to the door and stared right at Martin with no expression. He tried to reason that he
shouldn’t be afraid of an old lady, until they met once again and broke his leg because of her
creepy smile, causing him to fall down the stairs. In the end, where he’s left alone and
vulnerable, the lady moved into the elevator quickly and pushed the stop button laughingly.
His worse fear came true.
The Clock (Alan Robert Clark)
The protagonist started living with his aunt, right after leaving school in Hampstead. A lady
he had never met before, Mrs. Caleb, was a guest at her aunt's house. Mrs. Caleb held him
in the hall as he was on his way to visit another lady. Asking him for a small favor if he was
willing enough to get her clock from her house. Without any difficulty he found the house and
entered, feeling like a burglar. Upstairs he was, as he noticed the atmosphere being stuffy.
On entering the last locked door, he found the object he was looking for.
Ticking away at first glance, as he realizes that the clock doesn’t make sense for it to be
ticking. With no one having entered the place for twelve days, it seemed impossible for it to
be ticking without someone starting the mechanism. Shutting himself in the room and looking
under the bed as the paranoia took over him – By trying to try to wind the clock down, he
slowly realized someone had set it back one-two hours ago.
Before he started to panic, he heard a faint noise coming from the gloomy corridors,
scratching every door that had unlocked earlier. Crawling out the window from twelve feet
high and securing the clock, he went back to his home with the window left open and the
front door closed. After the occurrence he didn’t meet Mrs. Caleb after because she had a
faint fit. Three years have passed and having forgotten about it, the memory creeps back as
his uncle suggests a travelling-clock for his birthday.
The Return (Fernando Sorrentino)
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