Pay This Amount
The timing of Daniel Scott’s Pay This Amount couldn’t be more appropriate. The state of the economy is in the doldrums and the characters in Scott’s short stories are doing desperate things in desperate times, mostly involving issues with money. While the stories are fictional, the people Scott writes about could be your friends and neighbors.
This mosaic of tales takes place all across the USA, from Rhode Island down to Florida, each story portraying a particular time and place of despair. Scott captures his characters right in the midst of a crisis and strips away all pretenses. These are ordinary people with honest problems.
In "The Runt", the protagonist is a short man who avoids his job because he’s being bullied by a co-worker. Scott pokes fun at his character’s imperfections but still remains sympathetic with him. The story "Lëtzebuergesch" (which, by the way, is what they speak in Luxembourg) is about a man with no arms, who happens to be attractive from the waist down who teaches Kevin, the shallow lead character, a lesson about life and love.
The central story from which the collection takes its title is the best of the ten. "Pay This Amount" tells its story from the point of view of Gary, a man obsessed with finding his grandmother in order to get her money. Along the way, he meets Howard, who he at first simply uses before coming to the realization he has feelings for him. Like most of the other ten stories, "Pay This Amount" ends on a somewhat abrupt note but it works just the same.
Scott’s tales are written with much intelligence and social satire. They will put your problems into perspective. Look for the author’s other book, "Some of Us Have to Get Up in the Morning."
by Daniel Scott
Laughing Fire Press, September 2008. 192 pages, $16.95. ISBN-13: 978-0967492216. Available whereever books are sold or online through Amazon.
