Tom Perrotta Short Story: Me and Carlos

Me and Carlos is a brand new Tom Perrotta twenty-page short story that Amazon has made available free to its Amazon Prime subscribers. Perrotta is a popular writer these days, especially after HBO adapted some of his work into successful series, so I was pleasantly surprised that I could read this one for free.

 

The story is narrated by Digger, a high school student who attained his nickname because of his habit of outworking his more talented competition. As he puts it, “You either give up on yourself or you dig a little deeper and find a way to reach your goal.” And, early on in life, he decided that he would be a “digger.”

 

All set to begin his senior year, Digger has high hopes that all of his hard work is about to pay off. He and his four-man-group of longtime buddies look forward to finally being the big kids on the block, and they are all prepared to make the most of their turn at it. And then Carlos, an immigrant from Guatemala, shows up - and everything changes. Carlos is a charmer. He’s so likable, in fact, that for the first time ever, Digger’s “posse” expands itself from five to six members.

 

Now, in the middle of the school year, Digger is feeling guilty about how Carlos’s easy success with girls, in the classroom, and on the soccer field makes him feel about his friend:

 

“It sucks being jealous of your friend. I knew it wasn’t Carlos’s fault, but the whole situation felt really unfair to me. …I couldn’t figure out why it always happened this way, that I was the one who did everything right, and still ended up getting screwed.”

 

Bottom Line: This is the first Tom Perrotta short story I’ve read, so I can’t compare it to others of his. But what I can say for certain, is that even though Perrotta packs a whole lot into these twenty pages, including several likeable and memorable characters, the story leaves the reader wanting to hear more, especially about Carlos. And that’s a good thing. This one has all the makings of a touching coming-of-age novel; either that, or one about a boy who, for the rest of his life, will be shamed by what he did during his final year of high school. Either way, I would want to read it.