Meanwhile, in a Small Room, a Small Boy... (short story)

	Peter Summerfield
	Rob Shearman
	Life During Wartime
	13 October 2003
Bernice Summerfield short stories
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Meanwhile, in a Small Room, a Small Boy... was a 2003 short story written by Robert Shearman and released in the Bernice Summerfield anthology Life During Wartime.

Summary

To be added

Plot

Peter waits in a small room. Sometimes he waits for breakfast, lunch or dinner, but always he waits for his mother.

Peter plays games with himself to see if his mother will come to see him. He counts to a thousand, and if breakfast comes before one thousand, his mother will come. The man doesn't bring breakfast until Peter reaches two thousand, three hundred eleven.

He tries holding his breath until his mother comes, but he can't. Angrily, he kicks the things in his room, and comes across a die. He decides that if he rolls three sixes in a row, his mother will come. If he doesn't, she must be dead.

The first roll is a six. The second roll is a six. Peter feels nauseous, and has a very brief flash of anger against his mother.

He drops the die a third time. He forces himself to not look at it. He will let the man come in and clean up the die with the rest of the things. As long as Peter can't see what the third roll was, there is still a chance.

Characters

• Peter Summerfield
• Orst Gemayal
• Gemayal

Worldbuilding

• Peter has a red rubber ball and the board game Snakes & Ladders.
• Peter has porridge for breakfast.

Notes

• The story was later reissued in Shearman's non-DWU collection, Tiny Deaths, with Peter's name removed from the story.

Continuity

to be added