Richard Bausch is the author of numerous works of fiction, including the novels Playhouse (Knopf, 2023), Hello to the Cannibals, Thanksgiving Night, and Peace, winner of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and the story collections Someone to Watch Over Me and Something Is Out There, a finalist for the 2011 Los Angeles Times Book Prize. In addition, he was the 2012 winner of the Rea Award for the Short Story. Bausch has also received the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story and the Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature. A devoted teacher, he is a professor at Chapman University in Orange, California.

Photograph by Jebb Harris.

Unknown

A Story

by Richard Bausch

In the middle of the night, his cell phone vibrates on the nightstand. Reaching fast to pick it up, he knocks over the stack of books there. His wife, Olivia, stirs slightly. He presses the phone tight against his abdomen, carefully removing himself from the bed, and puts the books back one at a time. The phone stops. He puts his robe on and makes his way to the middle bathroom and closes the door. The vibration starts again. Past 3:00 a.m. The little window in the phone says unknown. But he knows who it is. A month ago she bought a cheap drugstore temporary one with a set number of minutes on it. Not traceable so she can call him sometimes.

This just as he had decided that he would end things.

People on couch
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