Bierce's "Owl Creek Bridge"

Wow. Very dark writing for 1890, I really didn’t expect it. Of course, I didn’t see the end of the “Sixth Sense” coming either, so there you go. It was not my favorite of this week’s list. The first part of the first section, on the railroad bridge was so full of detail about the planks and the soldiers, etc., it was a little dizzying. Too much. Then it settled into the hanging, and his falling…
The second section took a step backwards in time, and that’s where we see why the man, Peyton Farquhar, is being hanged in the first place. He was tricked by a spy into trying to “interfere with the railroad”. His wife is seen, and we see that his life is a very comfortable one, as a wealthy planter. Part III flashes back to the present and Peyton seemingly falls to his death, only to have the rope break. He struggles with the bindings, escapes, and is shot at by the troops. He makes his way through the water and eventually the woods until he safely home. His neck is in pain, his throat is swollen, but he is home. His lovely wife is waiting for him… beautiful wife, home at last, all that he has waited for is there, and he just has to reach out...
Snap! Peyton had the longest and weirdest “life-flashed-before-my-eyes” moment ever recorded. Very odd, and I suppose very influential on the numerous other books and movies that have come out in the last 120 years. It is an interesting concept, what we think and hear and feel in those seconds before we die.