In Competition 2816 you were invited to submit a short story with an ingenious twist at the end.
I was inspired to set this challenge after coming across O. Henry’s ‘The Gift of the Magi’ and then rereading Maupassant’s quietly devastating ‘The Necklace’. The moral of Bill Greenwell’s tale — dishonesty pays — struck me as a neat counterpoint to Maupassant.
The winners earn £25 each. G.M. Davis takes the bonus fiver.
I answered the knock and was struck dumb. It was 20 years since we’d lived together. I’d undergone sea changes, but she was no different: the pleated pink minidress, the rhinestone gladiator sandals, glamour slap à la Joan Collins.
Too late to invent an excuse: I had to let her in. ‘Got any gak?’ she asked, twirling through the front door.
‘No, Rita. I’m clean now, you understand? I work and pay my taxes.
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