lightning + lightning bugs

I’ve been reading a lot of short stories on the subway lately, in between editing for my clients and the work that has enveloped my life at the office.

This is another one that I loved. It’s absolutely magnificent, and the ending has to be one of my favorites ever.

It’s also very short — aka, you should read it!

An excerpt (bolded phrases are mine):

Anders couldn’t get to the bank until just before it closed, so of course the line was endless and he got stuck behind two women whose loud, stupid conversation put him in a murderous temper.  He was never in the best of tempers anyway, Anders – a book critic known for the weary, elegant savagery with which he dispatched almost everything he reviewed. 

With the line still doubled around the rope, one of the tellers stuck a “POSITION CLOSED” sign in her window and walked to the back of the bank, where she leaned against a desk and began to pass the time with a man shuffling papers.  The women in front of Anders broke off their conversation and watched the teller with hatred. “Oh, that’s nice,” one of them said.  She turned to Anders and added, confident of his accord, “One of those little human touches that keep us coming back for more.” 

Anders had conceived his own towering hatred of the teller, but he immediately turned it on the presumptuous crybaby in front of him.  “Damned unfair,” he said.  “Tragic, really.  If they’re not chopping off the wrong leg, or bombing your ancestral village, they’re closing their positions.” 

She stood her ground.  “I didn’t say it was tragic,” she said.  “I just think it’s a pretty lousy way to treat your customers.” 

“Unforgivable,” Anders said.  “Heaven will take note.”

The best version of it online that I could fine is here.