Open Stories — Short Fiction by Hank Redding

A Western short story about distance traveled without acknowledgment. A father arrives without explanation, and years later a son begins to understand what was passed down—not through words, but through presence, attention, and what was quietly witnessed.

Set in the 1990s, Out of the Blue follows a man caught in a familiar cycle of chance encounters, connection, and quiet unraveling. As relationships form, dissolve, and repeat without clear cause, the story examines loneliness, momentum, and the moments that alter a life without offering explanation. What remains is not resolution, but recognition.

Set on a remote ranch in southwestern Montana, The Quiet Year follows a couple living through a season that refuses to declare itself. As weather turns subtly wrong and a neighbor disappears without explanation, work continues and the land quietly adjusts. Told with restraint and precision, the story explores endurance without heroism, absence without spectacle, and the uneasy truth that some answers are present only if you know how to ask.

A quiet Western story set after Vietnam, where a man tends land that does not ask questions. As the outside world grows louder and more urgent, routine, restraint, and silence carry what words no longer can.