HSEB NOTES

Mr Shoji Sakota was a pharmacist in the city of Sappora on Hokkaido Island in northern Japan. He used to have his own drug store in the same building, where he used to live. He used to live alone in the rear part of the building because his wife had died several years earlier. One stormy winter night in 1964, he was working in his room at about mid night. As it was the end of the fiscal / financial year, he was very busy with the profit, loss and the accounts of the whole year. At that time, there was a knock at his door. At first, he avoided it. But the knocking persisted or repeated. At last, he opened the door thinking that somebody might have come for some very important medicine. It was a woman who wanted an ame (Japanese candy used for pacifying young children) on a stick for her baby. Mr Sakota was quite surprised at it because the lady was buying sweet at that time of night. He was very much moved or surprised by the appearance of the lady. She was so strange that her ha...

Though the story Fear is from the unit of the supernatural stories, it is not a supernatural story. In fact, it is a psychological story. It’s a thriller / suspenseful story based on human fear of a nervous man. This story also shows how a man behaves in a state of panic and nervousness. The main character of the story is Armando Gonzalez. He was a man who had to look after a big family of nine members. However, he had a dream. It was a common dream to have a house of his own. With this aim, he had saved 50,000 pesos since the last many years (20 years). On that very day, he went to the bank to withdraw 50,000 pesos because he had seen a house within that limit. The deal was finalized and he had to do the payment. He was very careful from the beginning. The bank was slightly crowded that day and he did not like it. In his turn, the bank accountant started to count the money loudly which Armando did not like. He feared other people would know that he was carrying a heavy amou...

The story took place on 26th December, 1903 in Berlin, Germany. The famous German surgeon, Dr. Emil Braun, was sitting alone in the dining room of his apartment trying to write notes about the surgery while having his dinner. Soon he dozed off but woke up when he heard the doorbell ring. He heard a child talking about her sick mother to Mrs. Braun. He went to the door and saw in the semidarkness a little girl of perhaps six or seven who was wearing a cotton dress and shabby shoes. Over her head, she had a ragged shawl which she was holding together at the neck. The doctor felt sympathy for the child and her sick mother and became ready to go with her. It was raining lightly outside as the doctor walked down the steps to the street but the girl was already almost a block up the street, waiting for him. She walked too fast, however. Stopping only for a moment at each corner to make sure he saw where she was going. The girl led the doctor through the poorest part of Berlin, the sec...

Carmen was the only child of Roberto and Rosa Soto. She was beautiful, bright and loving child. However she was sick from the day of her birth. When she was four, she fell sick seriously and died. A few days after the funeral ceremony, Rosa gave away Carmen’s playthings and clothes to a priest of another village so that she couldn’t see them time and again. She thought that she wouldn’t have another child as she was told at the time of Carmen’s birth. When Roberto knew about it, he became very unhappy because he was hopeful that they would have another child. He asked about her the little dolly which Carmen always carried with her. Rosa said that she didn’t give it away. Then they searched everywhere in the house as well asked the villagers too but they couldn’t find it. However they soon forgot about the lost doll because Rosa became pregnant. On the first anniversary of the death of Carmen, Rosa gave birth to another child. Roberto and Rosa became very happy. She was named Eva...

The “Recurring Dream” is a supernatural story that particularly centers round a strange dream, which Kim was frequently haunted by. Kimberly Clark, the protagonist, has undergone a serious problem which she had the same sort of dream time and again. She is a young and beautiful woman of twenty-five who used to live in London and worked in a large company. She keeps a good position in the office however she has a problem. She sees a mysterious and frightening dream almost every night. In the dream, she finds herself walking on a village lane that is surrounded by white fences on both sides of it. At the end of the lane there is a little hill where on the top a beautiful cottage is located. She enters inside the house and finds in an old man with white hair and white beards fallen asleep. When she goes near him he wakes up and looks at her. But when she tries to speak with him she wakes up and finds herself in her bed in London.  The recurring dream troubles her badly. So, she ...