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Fiction

Harry Was A Newsman • The Assignment

The magic notebook • Part 1

Mark Starlin
5 min readOct 28, 2020

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Simon Wijers

I originally wrote and published this story in early 2018. I was new to writing fiction and opened with several paragraphs on the main character’s background. It was unnecessary and detracted from the actual story, which I think is good. So I did a major edit and am trying it again. I want to thank those few kind souls who read the original version. I have broken the story into three parts, which I will post on consecutive days.

Harry was a newsman. He was one of the greats back in the day. But now he was a dying breed, and he knew it. The paper was only keeping him around because he was due to retire. At least they respected him enough to do that.

Harry had no clue what he would do after retirement. Better not to think about it. Focus on the job. That’s what always got him through the day. Well, that and whiskey.

Then something unexpected happened and changed the course of Harry’s life.

Harry was sitting at his desk when his editor, George Daily, walked up and said, “Harry, this is it. Your last assignment. I want you to cover Wilson’s speech at the opening of the new playground at 42nd and Bright.”

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Mark Starlin
Mark Starlin

Written by Mark Starlin

Old bones. Young heart. Uniquely arranged words.

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