A Short story by Graham Greene
Story tells about boy named by Jerome and how he have to cope with a difficult situation. At first Jerome finds out that his dad have been in a street accident in Naples. Jerome was always thought that his father were a great adventurer who travelled around the world and faced spectacular places. Jerome thinks that police was shooting his father or something, so he asked: Did they shoot him through the heart ? But nobody didn´t shoot him, not at all. He died when pig fell on him straight from the balcony, in the fifth floor and broke his neck. Not really very dignified death for a noble man, it just don´t fit Jerome´s thoughts. Jerome was shocked about the situation, but he also realize that he have to find some way to tell others how his dad was killed. It isn´t that easy… Every time he started to tell about his father´s accident, the listener can´t help grinning its face or starting at laugh. Everyone just laughs at Jerome´s story, nobody really try to understand real meaning and how it affect Jerome feelings. It irritates him so badly. He use two different ways to tell others, first one was to tell all the story just how it goes and second was to tell only that: ”My father was killed by a pig”. He only get others answer like this: ”How interesting. I never realized there was pig-sticking in Italy. Was your father keen on polo?” It was apparently too hard to understand…
Years after Jerome gets married a girl called Sally, but he afraid to tell even her about his fathers death. Jerome tried to tell her himself several times, but he was too anxious to know all she could that concerned him. Week before wedding he took Sally to dinner to see his aunt and then came the moment when he have to face Sally´s reaction to strange story. He just prepare to face contempt. But Sally didn´t laugh at all. At the she just said: ”How horrible. It makes you think,doesn´t it?Happening like that. Out of clear sky.” And Jerome was so happy, finally someone realized everything. It was first time ever that somebody didn´t laugh at his story.
The story was weird at first glance, but after I readed it several times it opened to me. But I really don´t like it so much. Text was hard to understand and it was full of strange words, so I can´t follow plot perfectly. I think the story could have been more interesting if it contained more plot twists. However it was rewarding when you really understand the meaning of this strange story.
Written by Silja