The Coffee-Cart Girl

This story starts out with a strike going on in front of the Metropolitan Steel Windows Ltd. In the midst of the crowd of people are several coffee carts and one in particular, is run by the story's protagonist, nicknamed Pinkie eventually. While the crowd of strikers are combating the police force that is trying to suppress them, some of the coffee carts start collapsing because of all of the people. A man, nicknamed China, pulls the girl out of her coffee cart and wheels it away just as another collapses. She thanks him and promises to give him free coffee and pancakes. Eventually, China becomes a regular to Pinkie's cart, but being without a job, barely has the money to pay for his food. Pinkie offers him free pancakes and coffee anytime he doesn't have the money to buy food. CHina graceously accepts, but rarely takes up on the offer. When China gets a job, he takes her to a cheapjack, Naidoo, and lets her pick out anything she wants. After this day, Naidoo also becomes a frequent customer to Pinkie's cart. One day, China notices a new ring in Pinkie's finger. When he asks her about it, she tells him Naidoo gave it to her for payment of three days of coffee and cakes. China doesn't believe this and gets jealous to the point he threatens to kill Pinkie. When he can't bring himself to do it, he apologizes and goes away. Scared to return, China contemplates how he'll talk to Pinkie after this. After three days, he goes back only to find her cart empty. He asks Naidoo about it and apparently the government restricted carts run by blacks. He sat in her empty coffee cart and thought of how or if he'd meet her again.

Papa, Snake & I

This story is told from the perspective of a boy in a family. After a meal, this boy went outside where he overheard his mother and father talking of a snake in their chicken run who had been killing their birds. His father said he would get someone to kill it the next day and they both went on their ways (the father to work, the mother to her sister's home). While they were gone, the boy started looking for the snake with his "brother". When he finds it, he just leaves it there. Eventually, two dogs (one theirs, another owned by a man named Senhor Castro) start to bark and paw at the snake. The snake bites the dog owned by Senhor Castro and the dog runs back to it's own home. At this point, the boy gets one of his brothers to throw a cloth over the snake while he beats it with a broomstick. After a short while, the father and mother come back and the boy shows the father the snake. Then, Senhor Castro comes over demanding that the father compensate him for his dead dog. The father agrees after a short discussion. Then the father and son talk about things and eventually the son goes to sleep.

The Betrayal

This story is told around a well respected doctor/polititian and his dealings with a rival political group that is being newly formed. Doctor Kamal was the president of a political group known as the Oriental Front. When a new group starts to form, he sees them as a threat to thye Oriental Front and hints to one of his subbordinates about taking them down. Salim Rashid, the one Dr. Kamal hints towards, gets together the Youth League to annihilate this new group. Dr. Kamal only says a few words of encouragement to the group before-hand. The next day, they are all present at the first meeting of the new group. During the discussion, members of the Orient Front interject with ideas of their own trying to disrupt the preceedings. Eventually, this all leads to the Youth Group rushing to the front an supposedly, start to beat the members of the new group. Dr. Kamal escapes, as to not be associated with this violence, and the police are called. Dr. Kamal gets curious and re-enters the room where everything is going on only to be "horrified at the new dimension added to the battle" which I can only assume is gunfire from the police.