Part I:
“I can I can change black to white
I have it in me to make you go out of sight
Ho Ho! It’s me the man of wonder
With my wand and wit I can create thunder
Watch out watch out all you misters and misses
I have arrived to please and steal your share of kisses”
He sashayed into the room with a quick little spin, chin up and eyes on the crowd. He swayed his black magic cloak with a deft hand delivering his lines loud and clear with gleaming eyes. After two …

November 11, 2010
Dear Diary,
I just don’t know how to put it in words!!!!
I can still feel his words ringing in my ears and yet it is in reality “surreal”. After all they are not supposed to speak after they are………….
Let me try to recall what exactly happened yesterday: While perusing a copy of the Economic Times last morning, I noticed that the Sensex had dropped by another 865 points due to which the Government had suspended trade. I was obviously having the blues due to the huge loss incurred in …

“Crime in our town has gone up for the seventh straight month.  Police are at a loss for the reason.  They are warning all citizens to be on their guard.”
“Hopefully, not too much on their guard,” Zico said with a chuckle.  He turned off the radio as he sat near the door, chatting away with the person opposite to him.  His eyes were trained on the counter as he watched the party coming to an end and the last few inebriates waltzing across the floor. Throwing a glance towards the …

Once upon a time, there lived a farmer called Gawd, in a beautiful land called Queenstown. Queenstown was simply splendid, a haven for all who lived there. Gawd had a modest farm. He had several animals on his farm; he made a living by working his animals on the farm all year round. One wouldn’t say he ill-treated his animals; he was in fact quite giving. Most folks on the farm liked Gawd. Most folks.
Gawd’s farm had many animals; they all got along quite well. Most animals had nothing to …

Playing an agony aunt, and solving other peoples’ problem is no easy task. Ask Sarika! – The wise 22 year old.  She knows everything and as well…if you may, ‘better than anybody else.  At first she was reluctant about the very idea of social networking. According to her, the cyber space just didn’t suit her style of interaction. What she preferred more was, ‘real’ people.
“Internet is for lazy people like you, Sunita!” She once said teasing her elder sister.
Her elder sister was less social than she was and preferred it …

This short story has be selected to be published in a review magazine.
On request of the writer John J. White we have removed the short story – Grackle Trap.
If the magazine has an e-verison then we will update this space soon.
TeamShort Story Book

Mumbai – Room No. 407. It belonged to a person named Varun Banerjee. Unlike all the other residents of that high rise residency apartment, this room, situated on the fourth floor, had only a single occupant. Varun stayed alone. He had a family, which stayed back in Delhi when he left for Mumbai. Except for the office that he was going to work at and the two people who worked there; he practically knew no-one in this big city.
The time when he decided to move to a newer city, he …

I watched her walking ahead of me, I’d just come off shift. I knew where she worked, and I knew where she lived. I had been inside her flat; picking the lock had been child’s play — I’m a locksmith by trade.
She was on her way to meet her snotty boyfriend and I decided to wait until she came home, she never let him any further than the front door, she was a teaser, the sort that takes your money and gives nothing in return.
I turned to Walter, my companion, …

She woke up with some of the others to the sound of insistent knocks on the sides of the trucks. After a while, the door slid back with a bump, causing some of the children to call out in fright. Everyone’s gaze turned to the sun’s rays streaming in, warming the air slightly in the unusual silence.
Ellen Kaempfer, a 45-year-old Jewess from Hamburg, stood up and looked to her older sister Betty. She pulled her to her feet and helped her pick up the little boy she had taken into …