It’s time to start the next book’s discussion!
This post was made into a wiki, so feel free to add/update details.
Link to the original description: 赤い悪夢 (5分後に意外な結末)
We will be reading 2-3 short stories a week, out of a total of 32. Each week there will be a designated “focus” story, picked by the discussion leader - this will be the story we put the most focus on, although feel free to read and discuss the other stories as well.
Current Week: Week 11
The focus story for this week is: TBD
Proposed schedule:
Discussion leaders:
- No designated leader this week - anyone who’s read the focus story can feel free to contribute!
Feel free to volunteer if you’d like to lead discussion!
Plot Summaries
開いた窓
- p. 6 We meet our main character, Framton Nuttel, and learn that he is suffering from some sort of nervous illness, and has just moved from the city to the countryside
- p. 7 Framton arrives at the house of one of his new neighbors, a woman named Mrs. Sappleton. Framton’s older sister had apparently lived in this part of the countryside several years previous, and had sent an introduction letter to Mrs. Sappleton on behalf of her brother.
- p. 8 Framton is welcomed into the house by Mrs. Sappleton’s niece Vera, who informs him that her aunt is upstairs and will be down shortly.
- p. 9 While they wait, Vera points out a large, open window in the room. She then tells him a shocking story - exactly 3 years ago, Mrs. Sappleton’s husband and 2 younger brothers left the house through the window to go hunting. All 3 men then drowned in a bog, their bodies never recovered. Crazy with grief, her aunt insisted that they would return one day, and has kept the window open every day since then in preparation for their return.
- p. 10 Mrs. Sappleton comes downstairs and joins the two. She mentions the open window and that she’s waiting for her husband and two brothers to come back from their hunt - much to the discomfort of Framton, who tries to change the topic.
- p. 12 Suddenly Mrs. Sappleton exclaims that the men have returned - fearfully, Framton turns toward the window and sees 3 mud-covered figures standing there. He promptly stands and flees out the front door.
- p. 13 Mrs. Sappleton and the men express confusion at Framton’s behavior, and Vera explains to them that Framton must have been scared off by the men’s hunting dog. She then relates to them a story about how Framton was once chased into a graveyard by a pack of wild dogs and forced to spend the night in an open grave, thus causing him to develop a phobia.
- p. 13 (last sentence) It is revealed that coming up with outlandish stories is Vera’s specialty, and that everything she had told Framton was a lie.
