Short Story #194: A Cold Greeting by Ambrose Bierce
Title: A Cold Greeting
Author: Ambrose Bierce
Summary
Benson Foley came to introduce his two friends Conway and Barting. The two of them came to an agreement that whomever makes it to the afterlife first, should do their best communicate with the other. Some time later, Foley runs into Conway who only nods but keeps walking. Later, Conway is about to do this again, but Foley demands explanation. Conway says that since this is how Barting treated him a few days prior, he had assumed he had upset Barting and by proxy, Foley. Foley assures Conway that is not the case. Upon further inquiry, it is discovered that Barting was dead and in fact had been dead several days prior to the encounter with Conway.
Benson Foley came to introduce his two friends Conway and Barting. The two of them came to an agreement that whomever makes it to the afterlife first, should do their best communicate with the other. Some time later, Foley runs into Conway who only nods but keeps walking. Later, Conway is about to do this again, but Foley demands explanation. Conway says that since this is how Barting treated him a few days prior, he had assumed he had upset Barting and by proxy, Foley. Foley assures Conway that is not the case. Upon further inquiry, it is discovered that Barting was dead and in fact had been dead several days prior to the encounter with Conway. Reflection
Short and simple story with a clear punchline. I'm not sure there's much to add about this one.
Short Story #194 out of 365
Rating: 2 (out of 5 stars)
Date Read: 7/12/2014
Source: The Complete Short Stories of Ambrose Bierce, compiled by Ernest Jerome Hopkins. Bison Books, 1984. The full works of Ambrose Bierce, including this story can be found here on Archive.org.
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.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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