"Was There Sound, Mister, with Only a Deaf Man Living Near That Door, Passing It Twenty Times a Day"

"Cry Silence."
By Fredric Brown (1906-72).
First appearance: Black Mask, November 1948.
Reprinted in Black Mask (U.K.), April 1949; Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, October 1953; and Suspense (U.K.), January 1959 (FictionMags data).
Collected in The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories (2010) and Miss Darkness: The Great Short Crime Fiction of
Fredric Brown (2012).
Short short short story (4 pages).
Online at SFFAudio (HERE) (PDF).

"Would you try to save your wife from a killer? Seems like a simple question, but to Mandy's husband, it was one to stump the experts."

That silent man in the train station: should he be pitied—or executed?

Resources:
- For a comprehensive background article on Fredric Brown, the crime writer (as distinct from his SFFnal output), see The Thrilling Detective (HERE).

- This story is discussed by Graham Powell at Nasty. Brutish. Short. (HERE), so beware of SPOILERS: "The twist ending to this short little shocker is worth the price of admission."

- ONTOS has already had several close encounters with Fredric Brown: (HERE), (HERE), (HERE), and (HERE).

The bottom line:

  I think the echoes of his shames have deafed
  The ears of heavenly justice . . .
  — Palamon
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