topics: |  fiction-short | uk | single-author

These stories are all in "Collected stories" as well.

Lamb to the slaughter

 	The narrative unfolds its tension right from the opening, where the
      doting wife is waiting for her police-officer husband, under a
      ticking clock.

          Her skin -for this was her sixth month with child-had acquired a
          wonderful translucent quality, the mouth was soft, and the eyes,
          with their new placid look, seemed larger darker than before.

      After he comes in, punctually as always, he
      has to give her some bad news; told with typical Dahl concision:

             “This is going to be a bit of a shock to you, I'm afraid,” he
         said.  “But I've thought about it a good deal and I've decided the
         only thing to do is tell you right away.  I hope you won't blame
         me too much.”

             And he told her.  It didn't take long, four or five minutes at
         most, and she say very still through it all, watching him with a
         kind of dazed horror as he went further and further away from her
         with each word.

             “So there it is,” he added.  “And I know it's kind of a bad time
         to be telling you, bet there simply wasn't any other way.  Of
         course I'll give you money and see you're looked after.  But there
         needn't really be any fuss.  I hope not anyway.  It wouldn't be
         very good for my job.”

      In the end, she kills him, by hitting him on the skull, "smashed all
      to pieces just like from a sledgehammer." His friends from the police
      station come in to investigate.  The drama hinges on the weapon,
      which disappears right under everyon's noses (literally).

Other stories

Madame Rosette: A group of RAF pilots encounters the madam who runs a brothel
      in Cairo.
Man from the South: A tense bet.  If a man can light his lighter ten
      times in a row, he gets a Cadillac, but if he loses, his little
      pinkie is to be cut off.

The sound machine
Taste
Dip in the pool
Skin
Edward the Conqueror

Galloping Foxley
The way up to heaven
Parson's pleasure
The landlady
William and Mary
Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's coat
Royal jelly
Georgy Porgy
Genesis and catastrophe
Pig
The visitor
Claud's dog (The ratcatcher, Rummins, Mr. Hoddy, Mr. Feasey, Champion of the world)