The best short story I read in a long time. Gem of a classic short story. Reading the story reminded me of what Rabindranath Tagore, India’s Nobel Laureate humanist philosopher author wrote about perfect ending of short stories,

“মনেতে অতৃপ্তি রবে,
সাঙ্গ করি মনে হবে,
শেষ হইয়াও হইল না শেষ”

(Loose translation:
“After reading, will hang insatiety in the mind of the reader,
That the story ended but it didn’t”)

Beautifully crafted. You dragged me through the story till the end and then left me hanging in the edge, Tom Farr, the master storyteller, Pied Piper of Medium!