The Chaser by John Collier. You don’t always get what you wish for. Or do you?

Graven Image - John O’Hara. A friendly chat over lobster and peas

W. Somerset Maugham (W stands for William) rough. Borscht is beets, cabbage, and beef. Slava Ukrain

The Curfew Tolls - Stephen Vincent Benét (1935)

The Law - Robert M. Coates (1947)

Theft - Katherine Anne Porter (1930)

The Man Who Shot Snapping Turtles - Edmond Wilson (1942) slightly more graphic than necessary in my opinion, but not bad

The Tale - Joseph Conrad (1926) ‘this episode is a slog through the fog of words and memories’

WARNING: Brief graphic scene. Thanks, Guy De Maupassant (188-) Translated by H. N. P. Sloman (Harold Norman Penrose Sloman) His parents must have loved him. I will be thrilled when I finally guess the name for the initial

The Man Higher Up - O. Henry (1908) [Willam Sydney Porter is the authors name. His pen name was O. Henry. Are authors the real grifters???]