Review: "Of Missing Persons" by Jack Finney

There are some writers that are so good in their narrative style that they inadvertently trick your mind into thinking you can actually hear his or her voice telling the story to you. Once such writer is Jack Finney, and one of his more poignant stories of science fantasy is "Of Missing Persons", originally published in 1957, and numbering twenty-three pages. Part of the magic of this story lies in its protagonist being so sympathetically ordinary, so identifiably frustrated with the constraints upon aspiration into which a highly populated, highly competitive world thrusts most people. Charley Ewell, a simple but reliable bank-teller, may be outwardly average and mediocre socioeconomically, but inside he knows what life ought to be (if there were any justice in the world), and he senses within himself a potential that the design of the present world will never allow him to realize. He lives in one of the most bustling cities in the world, 1950s New York City, having sought out that metropolis to achieve a life more than average, but instead gets stuck in a rut with seemingly no exit. His prospects, social and professional are limited and tenuous. And then one day over beer in a bar, he strikes up a conversation with man of similar circumstance though of more experience. The sympathetic fellow-drinker gives him the most unusual advice: seek out this particular travel agency in an obscure part of Manhattan, and he will find a travel agent of a certain description who has a special folder about a place that could solve all of Charley's problems. However, Charley must be careful about it. He must say the right things that will motivate the agent to show it to him and reveal its implications. In a sober state on a succeeding day, Charley works up the nerve to do it, having been warned that if he doesn't come across in the right way, he will never see the folder. And if he doesn't properly appreciate what the folder offers, he will never get a chance at taking a trip there again. I will not spoil the surprising and fascinating story that unfolds, but suffice to say that Finney has a wonderful way of explaining quantum physics through ingeniously prosaic models, that he hides pearls within plain, dirty shells, and that he has an ingenious explanation for why certain people of great renown sometimes inexplicably disappear. This story can be most readily found in this recent collection: About Time: 12 Short Stories. Written by Jack Finney. Published by Touchstone. Copyright 1998.