3149. So predictable © Bruce Goodman 19 March 2025

It has been said that these stories are predictable; the reader guesses the outcome ages before the denouement. Clearly the writer has been hanging around for too long (like a bad smell). To illustrate this sad state of affairs (not that it really needs illustrating) today’s story suffers from such predictability. The ending is obvious almost before the story starts. Is it a murder? Poison? Gun shot? I leave it to the reader to see how early in the plot they can guess the outcome. One couldn’t deny that Margaretha had the loveliest neighbour, but the neighbour was moving away. Her house was sold and she was leaving. “I can’t take everything with me,” said Therese. “Would you like the contents of my freezer? It’s mainly home-kill as it’s called. It’s nearly all goat meat, as Alejandro liked a good goat stew - well he did until he took off with his secretary. There’s other bits and pieces there as well, but it’s mainly goat meat.” What a windfall for Margaretha! To celebrate she invited her friends Stephanie and Maxwell over for dinner. She would cook roast goat! A leg of goat was removed to defrost. How beautifully everything had been wrapped in heavy plastic! It would take several days to defrost in the fridge. The time came! Margaretha unwrapped the roast. It wasn’t a leg of goat at all. It was mutton. Contact Author Back to Index Next Story Previous Story