This is The Writer's Voice, new fiction from The New Yorker.

I'm Debra Treesman, fiction editor at The New Yorker.

On this episode of The Writer's Voice, we'll hear Ben Lerner read his story, The Ferry, from the April 10, 2023 issue of the magazine.

Lerner is the author of the novels, Leaving The Attaches Station, 10-04, and The Topeka School, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2020.

He was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2015.

Now here's Ben Lerner.

The Ferry.

Hey, I understand you're angry. The first message said,

A man's voice, probably a man my age. I would be angry too.

I know I messed up. I know it's not the first time I messed up.

I've been dealing with a lot. I know you're dealing with a lot too. It's not an excuse, but I just want to tell you how I see it and how I can make it right.

And most of all, I want to listen to what you want to say and to what you need from me to make it right.

We've come too far. I'm sorry. Call me back, okay?

The number, which was not in my contacts, had appeared while I was walking Ava to the school bus.

I'd never recorded a voicemail greeting, and I guess the person he meant to call hadn't either.

The area code was the same as ours. We were stomping lanternflies to death every few yards, the bright red of their hind wings vivid against the pavement's gray.

After I left Ava, I listened to the message. I'd put my ear buds in several times as I walked to the train.

On the corner of church in McDonald, before I descended to the F, I encountered a cracked but intact full-length mirror.

Somebody had set beside the curb, first taping a piece of paper to the glass that red still works.

Underground, when I refilled my metro card, the machine asked me if I wanted to add value or add time.

It was too much, too beautiful, the bright red, the curved cracked mirror, the deepest question in the world.

I listened again as I took the F toward Manhattan and furring a body from the voice.

...