DEAD MEN HAVE THEIR SECRETS (Short Story)

Use this forum to post short stories that you have written. This is for getting comments and constructive feedback. This is for original, creative works. You must post the actual text, no links.
Post Reply
User avatar
Elvis Best
Posts: 1272
Joined: 12 Oct 2017, 02:36
Currently Reading:
Bookshelf Size: 86
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-elvis-best.html
Latest Review: Teething Problems by Mark Fletcher

DEAD MEN HAVE THEIR SECRETS (Short Story)

Post by Elvis Best »

I'd love to get your feedback on the following story:

DEAD MEN HAVE THEIR SECRETS

There’s a popular saying that all dead men have their secrets.

Well, I don’t really know for sure whether it’s popular or not but it sounds like something that should be popular.

There’s a story about a dead man who had nine wives whilst he was alive; his wives never knew each other - not until they met at his funeral.

This dead man led nine totally different lives with all these women and none of them never truly knew him.

His family was shocked; his friends were flabbergasted, and dare I say that I too was disgusted at the skeletons in this dead man’s closet.

But it made me think of my own skeletons; were I to die today what secrets would my death reveal to the world?

Will my darling sweetheart find out that she was not the only one? Will the world find out that I was only another phony who hid his true sexuality? Will my six girlfriends and four boyfriends finally meet and get to know each other at my funeral?

Oh I know I’ve revealed too much but like every cunning storyteller I know how to absolve myself of any crime confessed herein:

This story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.

So even when I refer to myself directly it’s all just fictitious (no relationships shall be harmed in the creation of this story).


When I think of the skeletons in my closet, it makes me wonder whether other people have their own skeletons too.

I do have some speculations of my own.

I suspect that my neighbor, Abu, has a huge snake in his house that vomits money for him every night; that man is very mysterious.

I've heard that Akua, the fruit seller, has a secret daughter that she hides from her husband.

Akua told Ama, her sweetheart (yes they are secret lesbian lovers) that Kwame Boat, the trotro driver, is addicted to a kind of porn that is revolting and borderline demonic.

Speculations like these bring up a question in my mind: Is there a man on earth who has no skeletons in his closet? Is there such a thing as a man who is squeaky clean?

My job is not to answer this. You have to answer it for yourself.

Do you have any secrets of your own or are you squeaky clean? There’s your answer.

With your permission, I’d like to alter the saying 'all dead men have their secrets' to ‘all men have their secrets’.

The omission of the adjective ‘dead’ signifying that indeed it is not only dead men that have secrets but all men dead or alive.

If this story made you think of your own little secrets, then my job here is done.

END OF STORY.
"People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within." -Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
User avatar
shamayelnur
Posts: 196
Joined: 02 Jul 2020, 08:50
Favorite Author: Stephen King
Currently Reading:
Bookshelf Size: 23
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-shamayelnur.html
Latest Review: Worldlines by Adam Guest
fav_author_id: 2376

Post by shamayelnur »

I did quite a brain functioning here. The story got me wondering about my insights. And I can't help but wonder what if my secrets die with me?
User avatar
Elvis Best
Posts: 1272
Joined: 12 Oct 2017, 02:36
Currently Reading:
Bookshelf Size: 86
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-elvis-best.html
Latest Review: Teething Problems by Mark Fletcher

Post by Elvis Best »

shamayelnur wrote: 05 Aug 2020, 18:27 I did quite a brain functioning here. The story got me wondering about my insights. And I can't help but wonder what if my secrets die with me?
I am glad it made you wonder. Thanks for your feedback.
"People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within." -Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
User avatar
Sunny_sideways
Posts: 2
Joined: 10 Aug 2020, 18:13
Bookshelf Size: 0

Post by Sunny_sideways »

This does compel the reader to stop and look around the library or public place they may be reading at and contemplate the sentence "all men have their secrets". While it is common knowledge to most that people in general have "secret"or secretive lives, naming the deeds makes for a sobering fact. Far more displeasing to think about is the rhetorical question, is there a man with no skeletons in the closet?
Post Reply

Return to “Creative Original Works: Short Stories”