Bagombo Snuff Box (short story)

"Bagombo Snuff Box" is a short story first published in Cosmopolitan in October 1954 and reprinted in the collection of the same name in 1999 and Complete Stories in 2017.

Plot Summary

Eddie Laird, age 33, has returned to the town near his old Air Force posting during World War Two. Over ten years ago, he was married for six months to Amy, who he's heard from an old friend has done fairly well with her second husband. Eddie calls her up and tells her he is passing through town on the way to the Klondike to mine uranium, having previously worked in Ceylon, Iraq, and the Amazon. Their talk is friendly, Amy recognizing that Eddie's not the type to ever settle down, and he asks if he can visit. Although worried about the appearance of her banal life, she agrees. When Eddie arrives, he meets Amy's new husband Harry and gives them the gift of a jewel-encrusted snuff box from Bagombo in Ceylon, while sharing stories of his many global adventures, possible only because of his bachelor life. Eddie is shocked at how beautiful Amy has remained and prods Harry to take her out to see more of the world. Eddie attempts to teach them some of the native language of Bagombo, which Amy quickly masters, although Harry stumbles over it. The two of them, meanwhile, are both short-tempered with each other, not having slept much because of their new baby.

Their son Stevie comes home from school, who find his parents strangely tense with him. They introduce him to Eddie who insists on being addressed as "Major Laird" but he finds the nine year old surprisingly frank and unromantic. Stevie picks up the snuff box, and when told it's from Bagombo in Ceylon, he asks why it has "Made in Japan" on the bottom. Eddie quickly explains it's exported to Japan for international trade, which makes little sense to Stevie, but Harry points out that the "Oriental mind works in devious ways". Stevie asks why they would ship something from Africa to Japan, while Amy says she thinks Ceylon is off the coast of India and Harry confuses it with Madagascar. Eddie panics as he realizes he's not sure where Ceylon actually is. Stevie insists its in Africa and, taking a chance, Eddie agree and tries to leave quickly. Rushing into the taxi, Stevie finds from an atlas that he's wrong and Amy was correct about it being off the Indian coast. As Eddie drives off, the family call out the phrases from Bagombo that Eddie taught them. Later that night, Eddie calls his wife Selma at their home in Levittown, Long Island and asks about their children. Selma asks if Eddie plans to see "her" while he's in town, but he says he's not that curious since "people change".

Adaptation

"Bagombo Snuff Box" was adapted into a 14-minute short film in Serbian by Igor Stanojević called Čovek iz Bagomba ("The Man from Bagombo"). It premiered in 2010 and stars Dragan Jovanović and Gala Videnović.