A small village is preparing for its annual summer tradition—a lottery. It's a very important event, done to ensure a good harvest. The children gather excitedly, followed by the adults. When everyone is present, the village's civic leader, Mr. Summers, gets things started.
A man claims that a disease had sharpened his senses and that he isn't mad. He was seized with a desire to kill an old man. The man hadn't wronged him in any way, nor was material gain his motive. It was the old man's eye—pale blue with a film over it—that drove him to act.
A woman going through some difficulties is confined to a room in a colonial mansion. Both her husband and brother are physicians, and they agree on the diagnosis—nervous depression and a slight hysterical tendency. She's to have no excitement and do no work until she's better. She disagrees, but all she can do is a little secret writing.
A man and woman wait for the express from Barcelona to Madrid. They drink beer and make some strained conversation. It eventually turns to an operation that the woman is considering. The man thinks it's the best thing to do, but the woman resists.
The Bet by Anton Chekhov
At a dinner party the guests debate the morality of capital punishment and life- imprisonment. The strongest views on each side are held by a banker and lawyer. The banker is willing to wager two million that the lawyer couldn't last in a cell for five years.
A man is traveling in the Yukon in the bitter cold. He's headed for his acquaintances at a base camp where there will be a fire and hot food. He's a careful traveler, and he's accompanied by a husky. It's colder than the man thinks. It's so cold that the husky knows instinctively they shouldn't be far from home.
