Galaxy’s Edge Magazine: Issue 13, March 2015 by Mike Resnick

Author:Mike Resnick [Resnick, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction & Fantasy
ISBN: 978-1-61242-260-2
Publisher: Phoenix Pick
Published: 2015-02-19T16:00:00+00:00

Original Publication

Copyright © 2015 by Eric Leif Davin

Fabio Centamore is an Italian science fiction author, with some short stories, a novel, and many reviews to his credit. He has translated authors such as Robert Silverberg and Robert Reed into Italian. This is his first American sale.

THE LATEST ONE

by Fabio F. Centamore

Returning home at the usual time, after the usual workday, he found her fully dressed and ready to go out.

“So, here we are,” she began, smiling at him.

“Sure,” he replied. “Here we are.”

“I think you already know,” she said.

She looked really pretty in her short, iridescent green dress, delicately accommodating those fluorescent shoes that he liked so much.

“The same look as when we met for the first time,” he remarked, throwing her a quick smile.

“Why not? Today is our anniversary.”

He switched off his headset connector and dropped it on a shelf. He did not say a word, as if he were completely focused on a single thought many light years away from his apartment and from the face of the woman in front of him. In truth, he was just trying to work out what he, himself, was feeling.

“Have you nothing to add?” she snapped through clenched teeth.

He looked down and sadly reached for his favorite chair. Under her watchful eye he sat, tired of the world’s weight, and made the classic gesture for his evening drink. Full of the usual icy purple liquid, the glass rose slowly from the armrest.

“And that’s it?” murmured the woman, standing close to the chair. Now her voice was becoming shrill. “You simply get a drink, a little time in your chair, and then go away. What about us?”

His face quivered lightly, a crease barely visible on his left cheekbone. Looking at the empty space in front of him, the man tried to bring the glass to his lips.

“Wake up!” she shouted at him while clutching the armrests. Her eyes now showed him all the fury that was stirring inside her. Then she repeated: “What about us? Do you really want this?”

She pointed to an evanescent calendar, floating in air against the nearest wall. The date was rapidly approaching zero. He kept starring off into space, preferring to remain silent. His eyes seemed empty, the glass still in his hand, as if he had transformed into stone.

“Look at me!” the woman went on. “I’m here. It’s our night. You just have to say that... Come on, I’m trying to save our relationship... You just have to say one word, the right one.”

“Just a word for you...” he repeated softly. “Anything else?”

“Please, stop it. You know what I mean. My absences... the screams at night... time spent in that chair talking to myself... It was really stupid on my part, I understand. Now I’m apologizing. I want a new start for us. You should want it too. Help me!”

“I would, but...”

She threw her wrists under his watery eyes. They were always paler and trembling at every millisecond.

“Don’t I deserve a chance?” she asked him. “Do you really want this?”

“I.

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