The Raven
by Edgar Allan Poe

 Church Going
by Philip Larkin

 Frost at Midnight
by Samuel Coleridge

 I sit & look out
by Walt Whitman

 The Lady of Shallot
by Alfred Lord Tennyson

 Telephone Conversation
by Wole Soyinka

 Going Places
by A.R. Barton

 Village Cricket Match
by A. G. Macdonell

 The Night Train at Deoli
by Ruskin Bond

 Growing Up
by Joyce Cary

 The Castaway
by Rabindranath Tagore

Going Places
-by A. R. Barton

The story at hand- 'Going Places' by A.R. Barton, recounts the pangs of a growing adolescent girl Sophie, vividly portraying her new emotions of fantasising and hero-worship of the famous Irish footballer Danny Casey. Some of the theme explored in the story are sibling relationship in adolescence, emotional see-saw and hero-worship.
The story begins with a simple conversation between the two friends, Sophie and Jansie, on their way home from school, as Sophie reveals her post schooling plans. She dreams of opening a boutique, similar to the one owned by Mary Quant, the famous fashion designer.

'I'll have the most amazing shop this city's ever seen'.

Jansie reminds Sophie that she would need money for something like that and saving it would take good long time, besides her father would never allow it. However Sophie continues to weave her dreams-

Or an actress. Now there's real money in that. Yes, and I could maybe have a boutique on the side. Actresses don't work full time, do they? Anyway, that or a fashion designer, you know-something sophisticated.

She reaches home, still lost in her thoughts, and announces that if she gets money, she'll buy a boutique to which her father scornfully remarks that he would rather buy a decent house with that money. Sophie's little brother Derek quips at her fantasies while her mother, busy with her household chores, merely sighs. Sophie feels 'a tightening in her throat' or dejected and goes looking for her brother Geoff.
Geoff was kneeling on the floor in the next room mending his motorcycle, sitting over some newspaper spread on the carpet. He had left school three years ago and was presently an apprentice in a mechanic shop and travelled to the other side of the town daily for work. He had reserved nature and spoke rarely.

When he wasn't speaking it was though he was away somewhere, out there in the world in those places she had never been.

He was usually quiet and didn't make friends easily. Sophie wished to be a part of her brother's fantasies. She was also keen to explore the outside world which she thought was awaiting her arrival.

She saw herself riding behind Geoff. He wore new, shining black leathers and she a yellow dress with a kind of cape that flew out behind. There was a sound of applause as the world rose to greet them.

Sophie told her brother that she had met Danny Casey, the famous Irish Footballer in the arcade. According to her, she had been looking at the clothes in the Royce's window when he stood behind her. Geoff does not believe her and asked her to describe his looks. Just then their father entered the room and listening to the story looked at Sophie scornfully, in. he warned Sophie against such wild fantasies and stories.

One of these days you're going to talk yourself into a load of trouble.
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