Busy Lines
This story by Patricia Grace paints a poignant picture of an elderly widow who has lived alone for fifteen years. She comforts herself by imagining her deceased husband as a star that, along with the stars of other loved ones who have died, watches over her at night. She has given away most of her belongings and lives a spartan but contented life, ever watchful for visitors who never come and listening for a telephone that never rings. As the story ends, she “wakes” to find herself surrounded by dancing stars. Themes include independence, ageing with grace, contentment, loneliness.
This is a short horror story by little known author Julius Long. A doctor tells a man suffering from nerves to have a long holiday somewhere quiet. The man checks into a hotel in a small town. However, the townspeople are unfriendly towards him and he finds it a lonely, dreary place. His only hope for stimulating conversation appears to be a tall, pale man staying in another room of the hotel. The pale man has some very strange ways, so the man asks the hotel room clerk about him. The room clerk tells him there is no such guest. 
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