At 42, Gus Rosenthal is in a place of security, importance, recognition—in short, the perfect time to dig up that toy soldier that he buried in his back yard 30 years ago with the knowledge that doing so will take him back to that time to be an influence on an angry, bullied 12-year-old Gus.
My thoughts were of myself: I’m coming to save you. I’m coming, Gus. You won’t hurt any more. . . you’ll never hurt.

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  1. “One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty” by Harlan Ellison, in Orbit 8, edited by Damon Knight (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, December 1970).
    2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Harlan Ellison