"Precious" by Crimson Dragon (dcrimson@yahoo.com).

This story could be described as the morose self-ruminations of a rejected woman at the end of a bad day. Molested, fired, her ankle nearly broken, her liquor gone, she now finds that her savings have been stolen by her live-in boyfriend who has just dumped her. This story will not win the Good-Humor Stroke Story of the Month Award.

Although it sucks as stroke material, this story is excellent as literature. You know - the sort of stuff you read to achieve a more complete insight into life - the stuff that lets you vicariously experience feelings and emotions that, if you're lucky, will probably never happen to you.

This is one of those stories where I dislike the abbreviated labels that try to classify it. My advice is to ignore them; just call this one (good story). The author calls it depressing, but I wouldn't. Of course, you'll have to read the story to decide whether "depressing" is an overstatement or an understatement.