Million-Writers-Award-Worthy: A Happy Dream

I like a man who can think on his feet.

I have a love-hate relationship with Steve Almond. It’s a one-sided relationship, of course–Mr. Almond has no opinion of me. I’ve been known to buy literary journals just to get his latest stories, and I subscribed to Nerve mostly to keep up with his work.

His stories are often touching and sweet beneath their exterior grit and sex and cynicism; unlike many contemporary ironists, Mr. Almond doesn’t seem to relish a world without meaning. At the same time, I often wish that Mr. Almond would grow up; there’s a brattiness to a lot of his stories that can be insufferable if taken in too large a dose. At times he can be insufferably smug.

A Happy Dream is a sweet story through and through, though not saccharine. It relies on a bit of an O. Henry twist, but it’s told so simply and without subterfuge that the reader forgives it; “A Happy Dream” might be a brief treatment for a good romantic comedy, more “Joe vs. the Volcano” than “You’ve Got Mail”. And there’s nothing wrong with a good romantic comedy.

I’m not sure if “A Happy Dream” qualifies for the Million Writers Award–it may have been published previously. And it’s now available, of course, in The Evil B.B. Chow and Other Stories. But it’s deserving of a read in the Failbetter.com 5th Anniversary issue.