Grigg, Twain, and Checker

I found my three short stories online, all by different writers; one of them I had heard of before, and two were unfamiliar. The first short story I read was entitled "Professor Panini" by Matthew Grigg, the author I didn't recognize. This story is somewhat of a Sci-Fi, Comedy that takes in the year 2023. It's told from the view point of the main character, who is working on a project that will earn him his professorship. His idea is to try and switch a cat and a ducks brain, using a very high tech toaster as the mechanism (hence the reason why I categorized it as Sci-Fi), however in the middle of the experiment the toaster ends up aiming towards the professor. Initially he is excited because his experiment worked, but once he realizes that his brain is in a toaster, and the toaster's "brain" is in his body, the professor panics. He tries everything in order to switch back, and eventually starts a fire in his apartment; the fire department comes and takes him (the toaster) to get fixed. The irony of the story is when he eventually ends up in a restaurant kitchen, where the toaster (his body) is the head cook. I don't usually read stories like this, so I found it pretty interesting. I especially liked how the author brought it all together in the end, and he threw in some much needed comedic relief.
The second story I read was by Mark Twain entitled "The Five Boons of Life." To me it seemed more like a fable than a short story, however it was enjoyable. I think Twain was trying to teach a lesson with this story; he wanted the reader to know the things people may value most in life, pleasure, love, fame, and wealth (he called them the world's gifts) are only temporary, and in the end you end up with the lasting realities pain, grief, shame, and poverty (at least according to him). In the story the main character gets a visit by a fairy who offers him his choice of one of five gifts which are pleasure, love, fame, wealth, and death. She tells him to choose carefully because only one in valuable. Each time he chooses one something bad ends up happening,, until finally he's only left with death, but the fairy already gave it away to a young boy, and tells him he chose to die an old miserable man. I'm not sure if I totally agree with Twain's overall message but I do think that he's right in saying things can't make you happy, you have to make yourself happy. In the end I guess I would rather live a short happy life than a long miserable one.
The last short story I read was called "In the Evenings" by Melissa Checker, the other author I had never heard of before. It was fairly typical dysfunctional family story, and for me, not too exciting. I liked the way Checker wrote the story, it just wasn't something that's never been done before. The title was very appropriate, and really tied the story together, because although you only read about one night, Checker gives you the sense that this kind of thing happens regularly. She based her story around the mother's role in the family, and I felt like the message was if the mom's happy the family is happy, which is definitely true in many families. Overall, like I mentioned it wasn't anything spectacular, but not a boring read.