# Okay, identify THIS (fantasy) story. Please. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 28, 2006, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-identify-this-fantasy-story-please/346455 "2006-02-28T14:49:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-identify-this-fantasy-story-please/346455/1 "2006-02-28T14:49:24Z")
No luck so far on [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=360812), but I’m still trying to keep my hopes up. In the meantime, here’s another short story I read in some anthology (from the library…all I remember is that it had a weird stripy binding, included Stockton’s “The Lady or the Tiger?”, and had a title like _Great Weird-Ass Stories for Boys_) during my teen years…does anyone recognize it? The protagonist is a teenaged boy, a sorta Holden Caufield type, mopey slacker. Definitely an unpopular type, but contemptuous of the jocks, cheerleaders, and other status-seekers. He has a part-time job at a drugstore/soda fountain in which he carries cases of soda around, and has earned the mocking nickname of “Bottles.” He disdains his contemporaries, but surprises them all by going out for the track team…and blowing everyone else away. He displays super-human speed. The story ends with him confiding in the reader that he also has the ability to _fly_…but doesn’t bother to do it because the chicks would cease to be impressed by his terrific running. From what I remember of the writing style, it was probably from the 1930s, '40s, or early '50s. Ring any bells with anyone? ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2006, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-identify-this-fantasy-story-please/346455/2 "2006-02-28T17:00:00Z")
The problem here is who’s asking. **You’re** the one who usually knows this stuff, so if **you** don’t know, who does? It’s like Julia Child asking for help with a recipe!