I open the door, prepared to be cross with him but he launches himself at me out of the midnight darkness, all wild hair and leather and bone crushing hugs and I can’t remember why I was mad in the first place.
“Okay. You’re going to have to figure out how to move around the house with me hugging you because I am not letting you go,” he declares in that adorably boyish manner of his.
“B-b-but! I have to go to the bathroom!” I cry in mock distress as we begin …

I bend over the bar. For her, not for drinks. She says: “Finnish”; and it all starts right there.
“Finnish”, I smile. “Finnish” I wonder and I smile. F-i-n-n-i-s-h, I let it drup in, drup, drup,
drup, letter for letter.
“Lapland”, I think;
“Cold”;
“Foreign affairs” (I just read an article that mentioned the Finland model, questioning myself
what that could be);
“Somewhere north”;
“Cold”?!;
“Bears”? No, no bears I believe, and I smile.
I take another sip of my Friday eve beer. It’s a pity for those bears, I like bears. Maybe I
should go to Greenland and find some …

Laetitia is wearing colorful socks, a bit like mine, but wilder. Women have more choice when it comes to socks. Women have more choice in general. Her socks are pinky with yellow and green spots. I noticed those colors immediately, I’d describe them as bright little monsters devouring the pink. I am sure she disagrees with that statement. She ‘d call them cute little things. She is a girl. We disagree a lot, and often. Yet I fall about those raised eyebrows on her face, over and over. She chuckles, …

She plays, ten fingers running up and down the ivories, filling the audience room with music. She sits straight, very straight, it is part of the technique. I feel a smile growing on me, stupidly happy, as if I am still surprised to find us here, almost every day for weeks now. I just love this moment: her piano on stage, Eline totally drawn in herself, that very same spotlight, the empty chairs, and me, watching from the silent dark. It is like a movie, and I feel part of …

ShortStoryBook.net reviews Keep Off the Grass – Karan Bajaj
There is hardly any book that comes by, induces some cherished moments filled with joyous laughter and humbly returns to where it originally belonged; ‘ back besides among the piling shelf. This and all, not without lending us with those insightful thoughts that can be enjoyed along with some much defined pondering. Such induced pondering does threaten to continue for days on end. Karan Bajaj’s debut novel ‘Keep off the grass’ is one such book.
First look at the book and the number …