The Hands

by Richard A. Sternbach

AN AMAZING VIGNETTE

THE HANDS

BY RICHARD STERNBACH

The story of the creation, in all its majesty, was written in six hundred words. Will the destruction be told as briefly?

Illustrator: Ray Houlihan

He was a gigantic figure, sitting there atop the mountain. He could have leaned over and dammed the river below with a finger. He sat on top of the mountain, and his beard in the wind was a white flag.

Across the plains, as he watched, there were fires glowing, and the mountain under him trembled from explosions a thousand miles away. He bent his head, and a muffled cry reverberated down the hillside and through the valley.

A smaller figure appeared beside him, looking sad.

"Try again, father," the smaller one said.