The librarian hands him a slip of paper with a number on it and directs him to the far end of the reading room.

An empty shelf, save for one slim volume. ‘My Life.’

He stares at the author’s name. Picks it up. Opens.

Every page he turns is blank.

Thomas Malloch lives in the south-west of Scotland. After retirement, he thought he’d try his hand at writing and some of his work has even made it into print in Reflex Fiction, Bath Flash Fiction, Gutter, and the Barcelona Review.