Hidden Sun

by John Campbell

  “ - there. Still -” Steve’s father swallowed convulsively. “Still there.” His aged head lowered slowly to look at his empty hands.

  “No, Dad,” said Steve quietly. “It’s not still there.” He placed the cylinder with its embossed Cyrillic letters into his father’s hands.

  The old man stared at the cylinder with a vacant expression on his face, the light of recognition gone out.

  “Now it’s in your hands once again,” whispered Steve. He took his father’s hands and wrapped them around the cylinder. To his surprise his father gripped the tube tightly.

  The elder Hendrick slowly raised his face toward the light from the window, his sightless eyes staring, his mouth slack once again.

  “He doesn’t know what it is,” said Maggie, her voice breaking with emotion.

  Steve straightened and gazed at his father for a long moment. He knew his own obsession with the Awa Maru was over, but his father’s was never-ending. He turned and touched Maggie’s arm leading her from the room.

  “Someday he will,” Steve said.

  The End