"Over the Hill." John Steinbeck.

One-minute review: Two G.I.’s in Algeria during WWII. Long for home. They want to see their women and go to the World Series. But they’re in the army and there’s no way to get to America. Sligo bets his friend he can do it for a bet of twenty bucks. They go to the dock. A group of Italian prisoners of war is being shipped to America. Sligo makes himself look as sloppy as the prisoners, joins them, protests he’s an American G.I., fights with the guards, is clubbed, and sails to America with the fleet. His friend says that that gag was worth the twenty bucks.

75 Short Masterpieces: Stories from the World’s Literature. Ed. Roger B. Goodman. New York: Bantam Books. 1961. These summaries do not do justice to the vividness of the stories. RayS.