The Reader

Alder Peak, Montana, August 1978. Cole Decker watches for forest fires from a steel tower in the Bitterroot, seven miles from the end of the trail. His only company is the radio, and Helen at the ranger district, who calls twice a day. Then, late one night, a flat voice comes through the static and begins to read numbers: groups of five, one digit at a time, to a listener somewhere far away. Cole writes them down. The voice reads again the next night, and the night after. Then it says one word. Alder. The Reader is a Cold War horror story told in the first person, in six chapters. It was made to be heard alone, after dark.