Witches' Loaves by O. Henry

She buttered up the wrong man.

If it ain't broke, don’t fix it. O. Henry mastered a storytelling formula built on irony and surprise twist endings, usually with great success in subverting reader expectations. But while his stories often deliver clever, satisfying conclusions, they don’t always have strong re-readability. Most of them are a one-and-done experience, and honestly, that’s fine by me. Give me a well-told story with vivid characters, a little intrigue, and a rewarding payoff, and I’m one happy camper.

That said, not all of his twist endings land with the same emotional weight—some are clever but forgettable. Witches’ Loaves, thankfully, gets it right. There’s no fluff, no wasted words—just a clean, simple setup with a payoff that works. Miss Martha is an older lady that runs a bakery, and every day, a gentleman customer buys only stale bread. She likes him and assumes, based on his shabby appearance, that he must be a struggling artist. Feeling sympathetic, she decides to extend an act of kindness. Unfortunately, her good intentions backfire and the moral of the story becomes clear: When you assume, you make an ass out of you and me. The title of the story is meant to be ironic, especially in relation to witches in folklore that meddle in other people's lives.

 Classic O. Henry, and well executed.