Aging Mortimer Cain still sits on a rocking chair on his back porch, gazing out over the waves at a particular star. The beach by his home is empty now, but a young man—hardly more than a boy—used come to the shoreline in all sorts of weather with a radio. Eyes fixed toward the sky, he’d tune the radio, searching for one certain signal.
This brief story of a thousand words or so successfully creates an atmosphere of isolation and longing. The reader understands from the first lines the characters’ search for companionship in the vastness of the universe.
If it weren’t for one unfortunate turn of phrase, the spell would be complete.
…again the old man saw the chasm in the boy’s eyes, a chasm which yearned deeply to be filled.
But magic there is aplenty. I liked this little story.
According to his blurb, author Wayne Haroutunian is a novelist and longtime short story writer.
Title: “The Space Radio (Isaac and Sarah and the Star)”
Author: Wayne Haroutunian
First published: Theme of Absence, August 4, 2018
The story can be read here.
Reviews of Old and New Stories. Mostly Old 