"Keynote," by J. David Bell

This is a story about impending retirement.  But more moving is the way Bell portrays the mind’s ability to shift perceptions.  During this sensitive time when the elder faculty member is asked to give a keynote, he reflects on his contributions, his later years, and the rising younger stars in the department.  Shifting paradigms, once this academic’s prize possession ironically presents a felt threat.  Or does it?  In this story the main character experiences something much more than regrets or threats from the next generation of faculty.  For a moving story told with depth of internal thought, read it here in Summerset Review.