Throwback Thursday: ‘Day Three’ by Robert Runté

As we continue our look back at the authors, artists, and stories that captivated us in 2019, today we bring you an excerpt of ‘Day Three’ by Robert Runté, from Issue 21, Winter 2019. Runner-up for the 2018 Hummingbird Prize for Flash Fiction, this story is short but oh-so-sweet. 

And if you want to make a dash for the flash, enter the 2020 Hummingbird Flash Fiction Prize, open now until June 15th. Explore past contests and find more inspiration here, then send your words our way!

Day Three

by Robert Runté

It was late, he was tired, and focused on completing his bookings. The BestDeal4U screen kept timing out. All that typing of his name and home address and travel dates and conference title and passport number and guest preferences and dining options would be lost if he couldn’t remember the name of the damn hotel he wanted. He could picture the lobby as if it were in front of him, but the name just wouldn’t come. And she’d know, because she always knew, could always figure out what he was asking; she always seemed to have the answer front of mind to whatever it was he couldn’t remember this time. So, from long habit and without conscious thought, his hand had reached over, punched the code to unlock his phone, tapped the phone icon, her picture on speed-dial, the speaker icon …

Abruptly, as he heard it start to ring, he remembered why that wasn’t going to work this time.

The shock of it froze him in place while the ringing continued, no one there to answer. It took a long moment to collect himself, to reach over and stab at the hang-up icon. But before his finger reached it, there was a soft click, and a voice said, “Hello?”

He started to mumble, sorry, wrong number, but stopped, realizing he hadn’t dialled a number; he’d just tapped her image on speed-dial. They couldn’t have reassigned the number already, could they? Three days? That was cold.

The voice asked, “Hey, is that you?”

“Sorry,” he mumbled, “I didn’t mean to —”

“Pocket dialled, eh? Well, whatever. I have a minute, if you want to talk.”

“Sorry?” The offer startled him. Who talks to wrong numbers? 

“Well, I already came all the way over to pick up,” the voice said. “Might as well make good on the effort.”

The voice was eerily familiar. Could that be her sister? He hadn’t thought to ask anyone what happened to her phone, so maybe her sister had taken charge of it. 

“You okay?” The voice — which was very like her voice — sounded concerned.

“Um, yeah. Sure. Just didn’t expect anyone to answer. You know?”

“I used to get that sometimes when I’d pull the phone out of my purse.” She sounded bemused. “I guess digging around for it banged enough virtual buttons to dial a number. Got a guy from Brazil once.”

He closed his eyes for a moment. It was the sort of thing she would have said. Relate to validate. Show them you’ve been there, that you get it, that it’s no big deal. Put the person at ease; move on. 

He couldn’t breathe, though. Reaching out to her, and her not being there … She would never be there again; he couldn’t ask her anything, ever again … 

To find out what happens next, pick up your copy of Issue 21, Winter  2019 here!

Robert Runté, PhD, is Senior Editor with EssentialEdits.ca and SFeditor.ca. In addition to conference papers, articles, book chapters, and entries in the Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada, he was co-editor of Tesseracts 5, editor of the NCF Guide to Canadian SF, and for nearly a decade, Senior Editor at Five Rivers Publishing. He has won three Aurora Awards for his promotion of Canadian SF. He is married and has two daughters. You can find him on twitter @Runte and his blogs runte.blogspot.com and sfeditorca.blogspot.com.