Will Write 4 Food
Monthly Writing Contest

January 2005 Winner: Bill Berg, Closure in a Morning Fog
Honorable Mention: Victory Crayne, Who's Next?
Honorable Mention: Mike Dunn, Lost
View the 2005 Will Write 4 Food catalogue of winners & honorable mentions.

January Story of the Month
Closure in a Morning Fog
by Bill Berg

      Two men walked along a tree-lined lane just outside Bayline, Maine—a young man on his regular morning walk and an older stranger who seemed to appear from nowhere in the early morning fog. The younger man was not pleased to share his walk with a stranger and said so.
      The older man said, "took me a long time to find you, Eddie. And I might not have if you hadn't sold your antique car on e-bay. I had a friend buy it, and all the paperwork finally led me to you. I'm glad you came to Maine."
      "Who the hell are you?"
      "Remember Amber, Eddie?"
      "Yeah. So what?"
      "She was my daughter, Eddie. And you killed her."
      "That's not what the jury said."
      "You know they were wrong, Eddie. And I know it."
      "So? They can't change the verdict. I know about double jeopardy."
       "You're right, Eddie. But Justice does not always turn on a legal technicality. You and I know you killed my daughter. A good lawyer and a bad jury can't change that."
      "You can't change the verdict either, old man."
      "Right again, Eddie. But I'm prepared to stay right here in Maine."
      "So you can give me a hard time? Won't work. I'm leaving Maine."
      "Yes, in a sense you are. But I'll stay Eddie, because there's no death penalty here."
      The older man fired a single shot, dropped the gun, and walked away in the fog—alone.