Relic and Preparation by Robert Olen Butler Very good read

 Relic and Preparation by Robert Olen Butler

Very good read

Relic

Like in all the other short stories by Robert Olen Butler that I have read so far, this one has a Vietnamese hero.

He doesn't do anything heroic though.

The relic that is present in the title and that he acquires is a...shoe.
Not just any shoe...
It is one of the shoes of John Lennon.

Furthermore, he was wearing it when he died, shot by a lunatic.

They were joking the other day on some program about the world's most unfair events.
One of them was Lennon being shot instead of Yoko Ono.
It was in the sadist, tasteless genre that is gaining traction today.

Even the woman comedian Amy Schummer goes for humor of a strange kind, with various weird sexual positions, the dragon, the van, the magician and others...

-          You don't want to know...but if you do, Google or contact me.

Returning to our collector, he is also a magician, speaking of challenging intercourse.

He can read the reader's mind...

-          I know what you think
-          How do I know it was John Lennon's shoe?

And he presents arguments.

He was a rich man in Vietnam and when the "spineless poor" did not prevent the commies from gaining power, he left Vietnam and all his fortune.

But entrepreneurial as he is, he has built another fortune from scratch.

He is not boasting with happiness and indeed, studies confirm that comfort is necessary for life satisfaction, but not wealth.

Our rich man is thinking of moving.
Also of buying another of John Lennon's shoes.
Even if not from the same pair, he would wear it and become an American.

Eventually.



Preparation

This story takes place in a preparation room.
It is a mortuary where the deceased are prepared for the last journey.

Two old friends are in this depressing setting.
One is dead and the other is getting ready to use make up on her late friend.

Before dying, the then patient expressed a desire for her body to be embellished by her friend.

When they were much younger, they used to spend time together and her friend would comb her long hair.

Even now, against the Vietnamese tradition which has mature women keeping their hair tied at the back, the former beauty keeps her hair long and untied.

Alas, they both loved the same man.
They met him when they were playing tennis.

The narrator played very well and belatedly realized that it was wrong.
For her friend played her worst tennis, with most of her returns stopping in the net.

It was because the young man was in charge with collecting the balls and throwing them back.

He was fascinated by the breath of the beauty queen and finally trapped and conquered by her strategy.

So our heroine is tempted to take a feeble revenge and starts arranging the hair of the dead friend in a way that she and the Warriors from heaven would not like...

-          Would she take her revenge?
-          And what else does she discover?


You may read and find out...

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