SOUNDTRACK:
[READ: December 15, 2022] “Punchline”
This year, S. ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar. This is my fifth time reading the Calendar. I didn’t know about the first one until it was long out of print (sigh), but each year since has been very enjoyable. Here’s what they say this year
Like we always do at this time: the Short Story Advent Calendar is back for 2022. We had such a great time last year working with our first-ever guest editor, the one and only Alberto Manguel. This year, however, we’re bringing things back to basics. No overarching theme or format, just 25 top-class short stories, selected in-house, by some of the best writers in North America and beyond. It’s December 15. Rebecca Watson, author of little scratch, is wondering if you’ve heard the one about two people who walk into a bar.
I really enjoyed this delightfully odd story of getting to know someone, sort of.
The narrator, whose name is not Briony, met a man at a her friend Amy’s birthday party. Their eyes didn’t meet across a crowed room. Rather they met in a mirror.
They didn’t introduce themselves, but they did wind up spending the night together. The fact that they didn’t know each others’ names was part of the thrill.
The next morning he said he knew her name (were they really drunk enough not to ask each other last night?) He said it was Bryony (It isn’t). She replied that it was coincidence how similar their names are since his name was clearly Brian. he said he would call her Brian, short for Bryony.
Not knowing his real name meant she couldn’t Google him. Or even ask Amy about him.
And it didn’t matter. He was very funny. he made a Brian Blessed joke (I guess it helps if you like British comedy to get this joke). She did start to learn real things about him: he is an only child and is rarely in touch with his parents.
But after a month of being together, things started to feel… different. He was critical of her sleeping. It was as if Brian had gone and this other person had taken his place.
Eventually she had to ask what his real name was. He told her. There was no thunderclap. He didn’t say it with any emphasis. But it changed everything.
But the punchline is when her friend Amy asks her about the guy that she must be seeing.
i was sure I had read more stories by Rebecca Watson, but apparently not. I really liked this one.
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