The Machine Stops

The Machine Stops

For a moment Vashti felt lonely. Then she generated the light, and the sight of her room, flooded with radiance and studded with electric buttons, revived her. There were buttons and switches everywhere—buttons to call for food, for music, for clothing. There was the...
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

For what it’s worth … it’s never too late, or in my case too early, to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit. Start whenever you want. You can change or stay the same. There are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you...
Damned If I Do

Damned If I Do

Epigenesis “What are you doing?” the trout asks. “I’m turning on the heat.” “Leave it off.” Alan Turing does. “My wife is very smart,” he says. He doesn’t look at the fish while he speaks. “She’s...
Dandelion Wine

Dandelion Wine

Season of Disbelief The thing about the children happened in the middle of summer. Mrs. Bentley, coming out to water the ivy upon her front porch, saw two cool-colored sprawling girls and a small boy lying on her lawn, enjoying the immense prickling of the grass. At...
The Night

The Night

You are a child in a small town. You are, to be exact, eight years old, and it is growing late at night. Late for you, accustomed to bedding in at nine or nine-thirty: once in a while perhaps begging Mom or Dad to let you stay up later to hear Sam and Henry on that...
Damned If I Do

Damned If I Do

Warm and Nicely Buried “Mrs. Marotta, Jose is gone.” The woman took Fragua’s hand and patted it as if consoling him. “Yes, my son is dead.” She assured him that her feet were planted firmly on real ground. “Mrs. Marotta, I...