Best Short Stories of 2003

This is departing from my previous way of writing summaries of each short story. Unfortunately when I wrote down what I saw in these stories from 2003, I noted that there was only a sentence or two from each. Here are the best short stories from BASS 2003:

Rationing by Mary Yukari Waters --Story about the silence between father and son (who is a track athlete). Living, breathing, and loving are the essence of this story.

Coins by Mona Simpson -- A story of the American Dream. It is about maids finding work. As they do their cleaning duties they find loose change. When they ask if they can keep the loose change their masters don't care, but when they see the change rolled up they tell the maids they can't keep it. The story is all about putting things into perspective.

Kavita Through Glass by Emily Ishem Raboteau -- This is a story of a couple communicating. She wants him to touch her. At the end of the story he looks at her through a glass he has won when he realizes that he doesn't know how to make her happy.

Every Tongue Shall Confess by ZZ Packer -- The story of a woman named Clareese who spreads the gospel as a nurse.

Why the Sky Turns Red When the Sun Goes Down by Ryan Harty -- Sons as robots. Generation gap; Dad lies to son to protect him.

The Shell Collector by Anthony Doerr -- A certain shell has a miraculous power. A man who collects these shells has natives that care about him, tourists and tabloids that just want a story or shell. The only people who don't to seem to care about him are his family.

Baby Wilson by E.L Doctorow -- The story of kidnappers, one being a woman who is obsessed with a baby.