"The Enclosed Heart", a short story by Michael Henrik Wynn

historyradio.org

This is one of Michael Henrik Wynn's short stories. It is set in an unspecified location, but it deals with issues that are common to many of our contemporary conflicts.

Transcript

00:00Now, on HistoryRadio.org, a short story.

00:04The Enclosed Heart, a short story by Michael Henry Quinn.

00:30The Dark Terrorist made his way through a mob, pushing all he encountered inside.

00:43His throws to the podium would be determined in angry steps,

00:46then grabbed a microphone and yelled towards the camera.

00:49We are here, we are starving, and we are not going away.

00:54The camera zoomed in on his furious face, and then he continued.

00:57You must start caring, or live forever under siege.

01:02That is when I turned the TV off, sighed and walked to the window.

01:08There was a slight breeze that gently fluttered my embroidered curtains.

01:11I shut the window and I looked at the blue sky.

01:14Then my gaze lowered itself to the skyscrapers, to my apartment block,

01:19and the throngs and traffic that circulated at their feet.

01:22It was odd to think that a few kilometers away there was a huge wall

01:26that closed us all in, kept us safe.

01:30Beyond that protection, the starving multitude screamed and shouted,

01:34and resorted to unimaginable cruelty, even cannibalism, the rage of the dispossessed.

01:42It was a comfort, then, to watch the trickling brooks by the park,

01:46to feel that sense of tranquil normality when laughing children played ball

01:50on the grass as you passed, and then finally Christmas,

01:53with songs and gifts, and lighted garden rules.

01:58I have only inspected the great wall myself once.

02:02There is not much to see.

02:03It is too tall for anyone to climb,

02:06and there is no hill on which you can stand and look beyond it.

02:09Along its sides there are landscapes passed for walking and cycling,

02:13and lovers have engraved their names in hearts on its surface.

02:16Of course, profanity and vulgarity appear there and there before it is censored,

02:21but that is the way the world has always been.

02:25I work from my own home and rarely attend events.

02:28When I do, I am not a person that says much.

02:31I watch a concert in silence, and it is true,

02:33sometimes I do feel an urge to weep.

02:36I then return to the privacy of my own roads,

02:39and it is there that I live.

02:40I then bring out old photographs,

02:43and I nostalgically admire those faces that once lived,

02:46and those moments that once existed.

02:49Then I cry.

02:51There are times that I do not leave the apartment for a week.

02:54I have stored food for periods in which the mob beyond

02:57scours us with their primitive bonds.

03:00We then hear sirens.

03:02Fortunately, we are stronger than those who starve,

03:05and always will be.

03:06So order is restored.

03:08Whatever those skeletons throw at us,

03:10whether they die in their thousands,

03:13we have the technology to stop them.

03:15Our planes drive them out into the vast and dry landscapes on which they spawn.

03:21I then sit by my window with a hot cup of coffee

03:24and see our jets roar for the horizon.

03:27Then I hear the faint explosions

03:28and notice a glimmer resembling flashes in fog far away.

03:32It briefly rises like outstretched arms from the ground towards the night sky

03:38and then subsides.

03:40In the evening, I then go jogging and run through the park.

03:44Sometimes I stop at the gas station for ice cream,

03:47and I sit by myself on a bench and lick it.

03:51It is so creamy and fresh,

03:53and that gentle sigh of tropical breezes is a godsend.

03:56In my life, I have never had a partner,

04:00yet I live in a metropolis.

04:02The streets at night are filled with vehicles going in all directions,

04:06and the hustle and buzzer never stops.

04:08It pulsates, and the neon jungle flashes in multicolored gleams all night.

04:14If you had ever followed me on my walk,

04:16you would have noticed the steady thumbs of distant music.

04:20In the morning, I have my routines.

04:24I wash myself and value personal hygiene.

04:27I sprinkle myself with flowery fragrances

04:29and groom myself to perfection.

04:32I keep my apartment slightly dimmed,

04:35so there is always a shock

04:36where the morning sun floods at the door as I leave.

04:40I hurry to the main shopping street,

04:42and there I melt into a vast anonymity.

04:46We are all busy and we are all going somewhere,

04:48yet we never speak to each other.

04:51None of the ten millions do,

04:53because beyond the perimeter of all hearts,

04:56our world is violent.

05:18You have just heard,

05:26The Enclosed Heart,

05:28a short story by Michael Henry Quinn.

05:34This is HistoryRadio.org,

05:37a free radio stream,

05:39promoting knowledge of literature and history.

05:41HistoryRadio.org,

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended