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Annoying Stories In My Head- Help me Out!
Jan. 24th, 2011 07:40 pmSo there are two short stories I remember reading in high school, and I really can't remember their names. I thought one of them was by Joyce Carol Oates, but I can't find it. I am not crazy.
The first story is about a family that lives in a house. A man shows up saying he used to live here and wants to look around. He's sort of strange- a lot of people in my class thought he was a ghost. He talks about hiding behind the curtains and weird riddles his mother used to ask him.
When he gets to the son's room, the son is doing math homework. The guy says "You want to learn a math trick for infinity?" and draws a square on the paper. Then he draws triangles fitting into each other within the square.
The second story is about a boy, his elder brother, and their father working at a run down gas station in the middle of nowhere. The cars don't stop at the gas station anymore, and they live in poverty. I think I remember the elder brother wants to leave and kills their father, who has a persistent cough. He comes looking for the boy, who hides until the elder brother leaves by himself. Then the boy also leaves the gas station and walks along the highway waiting for someone to come.
These are pretty weird stories, which is why I remember them. I swear I'm not crazy- these short stories exist. I read the one about the house in my junior year- I had a test question about the significance of the infinite triangles.
If any of you remember these stories, please let me know!
The first story is about a family that lives in a house. A man shows up saying he used to live here and wants to look around. He's sort of strange- a lot of people in my class thought he was a ghost. He talks about hiding behind the curtains and weird riddles his mother used to ask him.
When he gets to the son's room, the son is doing math homework. The guy says "You want to learn a math trick for infinity?" and draws a square on the paper. Then he draws triangles fitting into each other within the square.
The second story is about a boy, his elder brother, and their father working at a run down gas station in the middle of nowhere. The cars don't stop at the gas station anymore, and they live in poverty. I think I remember the elder brother wants to leave and kills their father, who has a persistent cough. He comes looking for the boy, who hides until the elder brother leaves by himself. Then the boy also leaves the gas station and walks along the highway waiting for someone to come.
These are pretty weird stories, which is why I remember them. I swear I'm not crazy- these short stories exist. I read the one about the house in my junior year- I had a test question about the significance of the infinite triangles.
If any of you remember these stories, please let me know!
