Short-Story Month 2012: Day 24, The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

From original, in The New Yorker

"Mr. Summers spoke frequently to the villagers about making a new box, but no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box." 

Of course, long before Hunger Games, there was Shirley Jackson's short story, "The Lottery," which is today's selection.  "The Lottery" takes place on a day unlike any day for the reader, but a day the village has seen year after year, the day when a name is drawn and one villager wins. . .

"The Lottery" 

by Shirley Jackson

(1948)

(also in audio version)