Best British Short Stories 2020 by Nicholas Royle (best novels to read for students txt) 📕

its steps in sequence. She moved without pause. She twirled, both of her dresses flying up and exposing her red thighs.

She stopped and punched her gloved arms in the air, one after the other. Jumping back, she stumbled and recovered with a big smile. She was sure of herself. I had never known her to be so confident, so composed. The old man threw some coins into the hat; they glinted in the sun. Cherri, what are you doing? John shouted as the finale song segued into a tune I hadn’t heard before. Cherri looked around and up. The old man walked past her quickly, carrier bag dangling from his wrist, shoes held to his chest. She saw her father, waved. He didn’t wave back, just stood there, his hand on his chest, breathing heavily. Her gaze went from him to me, and back again. She ran to the hat, picked it up carefully, stared back up at us. Look! she shouted. Can you see me? I’m here! I’m here!

RICHARD LAWRENCE BENNETTENERGY THIEVES: FIVE DIALOGUES1. HOW TO INCREASE ATTRACTIVENESS

‘My theory is that most people are energy thieves and will gravitate towards those persons who have the most energy. So if we take the example of a large number of people being in a room for a party or a get-together or a conference or whatever, and of their gravitating towards someone, as far as anyone does gravitate anywhere, then they will always gravitate to the most energetic person there, because that person will make them feel good, or will make them laugh, or will give out something that will make them feel fortunate to be there. It’s a matter of physical and mental energy. Same difference.’

‘Yes.’

‘For as long as there is an excess of energy and plenty to go around, there is a good chance that you will get some for yourself. An anecdote, an opinion you can use, a joke perhaps, or some information, a story, a lead, a job, a reference, an amusing insight … and thereby a feeling of renewal or liveliness or pleasure. Just something, anyway, that will make you feel better than you did before.’

‘Yes.’

‘I mean, no one drifts towards the worried-looking guy with a headache in the corner of the room who wishes he wasn’t there. That is because it is physical and mental energy that we seek.’

‘Yes.’

‘And just as unluckiness and unhappiness in others can be seen as infections to be avoided by sensible and self-centred people, similarly laziness and tiredness in others can make us feel as though they might be catching, too, so we want to get away from people exhibiting them. Quickly, in fact, since we can all be prey to such feelings.’

‘Yes.’

‘But the reverse, that is, to be full of energy and ambition, is inspiring for others. It is difficult to have great ideas and transmit them while suffering from idleness and fatigue, but it is easy and possible when one is full of sparkle and zest. And so we look out for the lively ones.’

‘Yes.’

‘With energy you get to express yourself and win over others who will love you both for your ideas and for the enthusiasm with which you transmit them.’

‘Yes.’

‘Therefore to be more attractive, have more physical energy.’

‘Yes.’ 2. HOW TO DISPEL WORRY

‘People often say that when their doctor gives them a diagnosis for a disease that will cause their death they suddenly feel much calmer. They have been told they have six months to live or something similar and it is only then that they can relax and enjoy life. You must have heard of that?’

‘I have. It happens frequently to those sort of people to whom it happens.’

‘And then they report some greater wisdom that comes from knowing that they are going to die. That is: knowing what is finally and truly important, enjoying the good things in life, and laughing off the bad things.’

‘Yes, they do indeed say those things that they say.’

‘But I have a theory that turns that on its head.’

‘Ah.’

‘Which is that they don’t appreciate those things that they say they do – families and sunsets and such like. At least, not exactly in the manner purported.’

‘Oh.’

‘But simply that they have no worries, which liberates them to enjoy everything all the time. No worries, except one. Only the big one. Having only one worry in the whole world reduces and ultimately annuls all the other worries which they might have. Indeed all the other worries seem no longer to count as worries at all, so great is the main worry. And so the death-marked person realises of a sudden, “Oh, I am not worried any more, how odd. Apart from that, of course.”’

‘So it is the number of worries, rather than the severity of them, that comprises the debilitating strain of worry?’

‘Indeed. The more the worse and the fewer the better, regardless of size. By surrendering the sum total of all worries to one giant worry, one finds that the rest of life is worry-free. Hence the enjoyment of sunsets and love of family life.’

‘So death cures worry?’

‘Yes. To avoid worrying, contemplate your own death and nothing else.’

‘Ah.’ 3. HOW TO CONSIDER YOUTH

‘I have noticed that people will say, “Oh, well, you are young,” to a young person who, whilst they will be accepting of the fact that they are younger than the old and decrepit fossil who is calling them young, will nonetheless not be accepting of the fact that they themselves are young.’

‘Yeah, how come?’

‘Because the younger person will be the oldest they have ever been. And he or she will be conscious that they are one year older than they were the previous year, and that the tally is always rising. A 25-year-old, for example, who appears a mere child to a 50- or 60-year-old, and to whom the latter will feel impelled to issue a constant reminder of the former’s youth, is nonetheless older than a 21-year-old.’

‘Yeah.’

‘And owing to youth’s fickleness,