Snow, a cab and an officer

A short story is a short piece of prose fiction. Some short stories focus on events; others on what goes on in a character's mind. Anton Chekhov's 'The Lament' moves from one small meeting to the next, and through them slowly reveals a great sorrow.

It is dusk in St Petersburg, in Russia. Big flakes of wet snow fall and settle on the cab driver, Iona Potapov, and on his little horse. Both sit perfectly still, covered in white: Iona looks like a ghost, and his horse like a cheap toy.

No passenger has come all day. Then an officer climbs in and asks to be taken to the Viborg district.

Iona drives badly, lost in his thoughts. Other drivers and people in the street shout at him. He turns to the officer and tries to tell him the news that fills his heart: his son died this week.

The officer asks what he died of, but soon loses interest. He tells Iona to hurry up, and shuts his eyes.

The cold, still, white opening scene prepares us for a story of hidden grief that nobody notices.