Apocalyptic Vision

In "Grace Period," a short story by Will Baker, the author describes a man home alone in the midst of a series of events of an unknown origin. Nonetheless, the man knows something significant and potentially disastrous has affected the environment around him. While witnessing these events, the main character makes several unsuccessful attempts to contact not only a friend, but the local volunteer fire chief, including the Sheriff, Highway Patrol and 911. What is significant about the events described by Baker is that not only is the main character concerned with making sense of what is happening around him, but the reader too must draw conclusions as to the causality of events. The short story concludes with the man on the phone, listening to a recorded "version of 'Hard Day's Night'" that "skips, wobbles, and skips again as if an old-fashioned needle has been bumped from a record groove." Although the origin of events described in Baker's short story may be interpreted a number of different ways, it is this writer's contention the main character is witnessing the end of civilization and the beginning of a post apocalyptic world brought about by catastrophic nuclear annihilation.

While the main character is obviously somewhere outside of the destructive blast radius, the first indication of a nuclear explosion occurs when he "feels as if for an instant everything stretched just slightly, a few millimeters, then contracted again." Baker describes the man as "hav[ing] the startling sense that the earth under [his] feet has taken on a charge. It is not quite a trembling, but something like the deep throb of a very large dynamo at a great distance. Simultaneously there is a fluctuation of light, a tiny pulse, coming from behind the hills. In a moment another, and then another. Again and more strongly [he had] the absurd sense that everything inflates for a moment, then shrinks." While it is arguable that what the main character is experiencing is not necessarily the effects of a disastrous event, Baker's description of what the man feels is indicative that something is not right. However, when the light fluctuates and the ground throbs, it is a clear indication that something is abnormal and worthy of further investigation. There are many examples depicting a nuclear explosion that speak to what the author is describing the man is experiencing.

The description of the man's dog and not hearing "a single bird song," coupled with his inability to contact emergency personnel, lends support to the belief that a disastrous event has occurred. After the initial indication that something is amiss, the main character is "aware that the dog is whining from under the porch." Moments later "the dog is howling..., and he's not alone. The neighbors' black lab is also in full cry, and in the distance a dozen others have begun yammering." Realizing that something is wrong, the main character attempts to contact local authorities to no avail. Baker writes "[he] punch[ed] the Sheriff. Busy. Highway Patrol. Busy. 911. Busy. A recorded voice erupts, strident and edged with static, telling [him] all circuits are busy." Even his attempt to contact "KVTX" and "The Courier" is unsuccessful. Our world is populated with people interacting through a social network on a continuous basis. People are accustomed to being within the proximity of others or, at the very