Short Story #152: "Man Overboard!" by Winston Churchill

Title:  "Man Overboard!"

Author:  Winston Churchill

Masters of Horror and Supernatural Great TalesSummary

While aboard a ship in the Red Sea, a man stands on the accommodation ladder while a party goes on in the ship.  The music muffles the sound of the ladder becoming unsecured and the man plummets into the water.  Partly shocked and scared, he does his best to swim after and catch up to the ship, all the while hearing the lyrics and music from the boat fading away, knowing that he could not be heard.  He continues to swim after the boat and believes at one point it has stopped, but it is a mere illusion.  After a while fatigues sets in as well as the realization that he is likely to die.  He calls upon God to just let him die instead of suffering a prolonged death and just after this command, a shark's fin is seen circling him.  

Reflection

A succinct and simple tale about dying but curiously written by Winston Churchill, which raises an eyebrow and the obligatory question, "He wrote fiction?"  Who know!

Short Story #152 out of 365
Rating: 2 (out of 5 stars)
Date Read:  5/29/2014
Source:  Masters of Horror and the Supernatural: The Great Tales, compiled by Bill Pronzini, Barry N. Malzberg, & Martin H. Greenberg.  Bristol Park Books, 1981. 

For a full listing of all the short stories in this series, check out the category 365 Short Stories a year.


Did you enjoy this read? Let me know your thoughts down below or feel free to browse around and check out some of my other posts!. You might also want to keep up to date with my blog by signing up for them via email.

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Comments