"Two Rubber Bands" by Kyle Minor

Does a story have to be "about" something? Does it have to mean something? The best stories probably aren't obviously "about" something so much as just straight-up entertaining. A co-worker says a hilarious story, and your first reaction isn't "but what does that story mean?" Not to suggest that all stories need to follow the conventions of casual conversation, but that all good stories resist simply having meaning.

Two Rubber Bands does an interesting thing in that it explores our natural tendency to try to find meaning through story. It seems aware of the fact that story itself is very much distanced from real life, and as such, crap happens when we move storytelling into the Meaning-Making Realm.

I think it's appropriate to include this story here because it also seems critical of the intrusion of self-conscious literariness. That seems to fit with my theme of Seeking Out Stories That Aren't Necessarily Literary. Story has some real, substantial connection to regular human life, and maybe self-conscious literariness tries to turn stories from being about human life to being about their own literariness. Kyle Minor seems to be at least aware of that problem.

The other reason I find it appropriate to link this story is the fact that it's an exclusively online story. I found it at www.pindeldyboz.com, one of many online journals that post free content. I think the more we get away from the short story tradition being defined by physical literary journals put out by MFA students on the east coast, the better. I'm looking into this online short story thing, and I like how it makes short stories available to people who don't have to pay to find "good stories."