Summary

In the short story “Shouting at Cars” by Adam Marek we find out that every year, a child narrator goes with his/her family to visit a troll on Christmas Eve and offer him a hamper with presents. The family starts preparing the hamper weeks before the event and when the day finally comes, they go visit the troll who lives under a bridge.

The father carries the heavy hamper and calls out the troll. When he appears, everybody is scared. After they leave the hamper and whish the troll “Merry Christmas”, they all seem relieved. However, the narrator informs us that it was the last year when they delivered a present to the troll, as the creature died before the following Christmas.  A policewoman came to their house to deliver the news and the father went shortly after to identify the body.

The en...