Listen, fellow Goodreaders. I know, I know, we must maintain the database and it costs money and this and that. But frankly, Bezos can afford it. This story is able to be accessed and read by anyone. It is incredibly good literature. It's valuable. It deserves to stay. Please?

Sometimes I feel like short stories get a lot of hate on this site. Not so much from individual Goodreaders, but from the overall bent of policy. Can't we mash these pesky stories into some other entry so we don't have to have to look at them? Does it count as a book? Does it count on our totals? Does it count in a challenge? Does it count, count, count? Goodreaders, it counts. Few things in the world you ever read will be as good as this story right here.

Huge thanks to karen for finding this again. I've been looking for it for months because I of course couldn't remember the title or where I saw it, and Goodreads, the place where I like to keep track of the things I have read, deleted the story out of its database, so I couldn't just look at my handy dandy shelves to find it. (And I had written a very nice review for this story too, easily one of my better efforts in spite of being one of my earliest efforts.) At least I can read the story again now. ( )