A Saucer of Loneliness

"A Saucer of Loneliness" is a short story by American writer Theodore Sturgeon, which first appeared in Galaxy Science Fiction n. 27 (February 1953). It was later adapted as a radio play for X Minus One in 1957; and as the second segment of the twenty-fifth episode (the first episode of the second season, 1986–87) of the television series The Twilight Zone, starring actress Shelley Duvall.

A man sees a woman on the beach one night who he suspects will attempt suicide. He spots her in the ocean and plunges in to save her. She struggles but he manages to get her ashore. She starts to tell him her story: years earlier in Central Park she saw a small flying saucer, small enough to put her arms around it. It floated down next to her and touched itself to her forehead for a second and they then both fell to the ground.

While recovering, a small crowd gathers around her. A policeman shows up, the crowd increases in size and an FBI agent arrives. The girl sits up and announces that the saucer spoke to her. The FBI man orders her to shut up and takes both the girl and the now-silent saucer into custody. The authorities obtain no information from the saucer and from the girl. They interrogate her about everything especially about what the saucer had said to her. She refuses to answer as the saucer was talking to her, and it's just nobody else's business. Finally, she was released.

Even though she is plain and awkward, men ask her out in dates, but only to find out what the saucer said. Every now and then reporters track her down to ask about the saucer. Finally, she resorted to taking a job as a night cleaner so that no one else will see her. In her loneliness and isolation, she takes to throwing messages in bottles out into the ocean. The authorities try to collect all the bottles, but give up when they find the same message in each bottle.

The man then explains that he found her bottles two years ago and has been looking for her ever since. He heard about the bottles hereabouts and that she had quit throwing the bottles, and had taken to wandering the dunes at night. He knew why and he ran all the way. He tells her that he thinks she is beautiful.

She said nothing, but it was as if a light came from her, more light and far less shadow than the practiced moon could cast. Among the many things it meant was that even to loneliness there is an end, for those who are lonely enough, long enough.

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