How to tell an audience about a horrific encounter? Do it with a nonchalant-style narrative that drops details before the reader like loose change. In Deron Eckert’s “The Spaceman,” the first-person narrative does just that, “Everyone makes a big to-do about me, like I’m in shock or something…” With such a light touch on a heavy subject, Eckert draws the scene out to its fullest capacity, pulling the reader in without hesitation.
You want the story? “No, it’s fine,” says our narrator, “I get wanting to hear it, but it’s old hat to me.” You got it. And with a breakdown of the fourth wall to boot. Our narrator begins to recount the tale of being seven years old and sitting on a park swing set near home. “The park was, literally, two houses away from my house. Mom could call from the front porch, and I’d be there within one minute.” That’s how close this encounter was.
Then our narrator gives us the full scene. A stranger appears. He sits down next to our narrator. The two exchange a few words. “And that’s it,” says our narrator, then adds, “It always gets overdramatized when they make a movie or show about it.” Who is this stranger? A real spaceman? Read it for yourself to find out. With the full context, our narrator’s concluding words, “But there you are. There’s your story about the time I met that son of a bitch,” land less like loose change and more like a heavy stone.
Source: Eckert, Deron. “The Spaceman.” Flash Fiction Magazine, August 12, 2023, https://flashfictionmagazine.com/blog/2023/08/12/the-spaceman/#more-89707.
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