Dissecting ‘The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes’ by Margaret St. Clair

I want to tell you about tomorrow

This tale was first published in 1950 in Maclean’s magazine before being turned into a tv episode for multiple shows. It’s a sci-fi tale with a touch of dread that’s so well done.

If you want the full experience, you can read or listen to the tale first before joining us for the analysis below.

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Here at Short Story Club, we take our time to savour the classics. Reading deeply is the most helpful thing I’ve done as a reader and a writer. It’s brought the joy back to reading and has elevated my own short stories to the point where I’ve had more success when submitting them. There’s almost 350 of us now.

A TV show to remember

When I’m analysing a tale, I read it over and over. And I like to pause at the end of each section of the story to think about what the author is aiming to do, what questions we have as readers, and the techniques the writer employs to achieve the story’s effect. A bit much? Maybe so, but that’s how I get to see truly how the masters achieve their mastery.

We start the tale with a conversation between a studio producer, Wellman, and Read from a university who is set to examine how Herbert, our kid who can see the future, does what he does.

I find this introduction to the tale gives us exactly what we need. It gives us enough to hold our intrigue without being too ‘info-dumpy’.

This keeps this short tale short and I find it represents a key problem writers face when writing short fiction – how to give readers what they need to place them in the story, how to not bore them, how to keep us wanting to read further? These goals can come into conflict. Too much info and we’re bored. Too much and we’re bored. St. Clair gives us just the right amount.

In the next scene, we get to see Herbert in action as he talks to the camera during his regular show where he makes his predictions that always come true.

What strikes me here is how quickly St. Clair makes us feel for young Herbert. He’s a bookish, nice boy, trying to do his best to please everyone. His attitude is one that I couldn’t help but instantly latch onto and root for.

To me, the power of this tale is in St. Clair’s ability to give us what we need, when we need it.

It’s a hard thing to do. We need the rules of the story. And the key rule here is that in order for Herbert to make a prediction, he needs to have knowledge about it first. That’s why he is reading so much. That’s why he’s learning. He needs to have something in his brain first or no predictions will come. The more he knows, the more he can predict, the more he can help people.

My father says that if I work hard and get good grades in school, I can have a small telescope at the end of the term.

Some of this info is a bit on the nose, but some of it is very subtle. In the first programme we get to ‘watch’, Herbert talks about getting a telescope and learning about ‘variable stars’. I didn’t understand this reference when first reading it, but we’re talking about stars changing in their brightness. So, we know he is interested in this activity. He’s learning about stars.

That’s the reason why I read so many books. The more things I know about, the more things I can predict.

After a predicted earthquake becomes reality, Read gets the go ahead from his bosses to press on with giving Herbert a full examination to find out how this boy can do what he does. Herbert’s father seems very pleased about this.

It was not until Thursday that he realised that he was hesitating not because he was afraid of wasting the university’s money on a fake, but because he was all too sure that Herbert Pinner was genuine. He didn’t at bottom want to start this study. He was afraid.

We get the above from the internal world of Read right before he is due to watch another show and start his official work. I like this placement. No one else in the story is scared (although I do get the sense that Herbert is also scared though it isn’t stated). This adds a nice piece of doubt in our minds as readers. This man, this scientist (connotations: cold, clinical) is the one to be scared?

Then, we get our surprise. Herbert refuses to go on air. He’s frightened stiff by something. What has he seen? we ask.

“But Herbie, you can have anything you want, anything, if you only will! That telescope—I’ll buy it for you tomorrow. I’ll buy it tonight!”

“I don’t want a telescope,” young Pinner said wanly. “I don’t want to look through it.”

After his father gets a bit stroppy, and no one can get Herbert to do the show, the father asks Read to step in, ‘see what you can do with him.’ And Read talks to Herbert on a more adult level. This warmed me up to Read’s character.

The crisis was over, the worst would not occur.

This statement is a nice wee wink from the writer. So, Herbert decides to do the show, tells everyone that mankind’s struggles are over. No more war. No more hunger. We’ll reach the stars. It’ll be a time of great celebration.

And, of course, they all believe him. The world goes into somewhat of a joyous frenzy with the news, for why shouldn’t they believe Herbert?

But, it’s not to be. And Read senses this in the hotel room they go to to escape the chaos of the streets. This, after Herbert’s dad leaves to join the party.

“I want to tell you about tomorrow.”

Then, we get the bombshell that Herbert has seen the end of the sun. He’s seen a Nova happening in the future, a Nova that he never would’ve seen if he hadn’t started learning about variable stars, etc.

And, that’s how the tale ends. Herbert tells Read that the world is going to end.

The weight of the world

When going through this tale, I’m struck by how Herbert is almost ‘the second coming’. He’s put up on a pedestal and held in such awe. Everyone hangs on his every word. Quite rightly, too, since he’s proved that what he says always comes true.

But this gift comes at a cost to young Pinner. What childhood is he allowed? And the great weight that’s placed on his shoulders is too much for a kid, surely? (more on that below…).

If Herbert didn’t have this gift, would his father notice him for a boy and not a gift to be exploited? What breaks my heart more than anything in this story is when Read, Herbert and the father get to the hotel, away from all the noise, and Dad leaves his son.

Fair enough, his father doesn’t know it’s the end of the world, but it says everything about how the dad would rather relish the gifts than spend time with the person, his son, giving the gifts. He’s a lonely boy.

Does the dad come back? Does he go on a bender and Herbert never sees him again?

And why tell Read that the world is going to end at all? Why not allow Read to fall for the lie, too? Is it because he feels connected to Read in a way he doesn’t with his own father? Is it simply because Herbert needs to tell someone, anyone, to share the burden?

The thing that made this tale so impactful

For me, the impact of this tale is that it is a boy who’s doing all this. He’s been given a gift that he ends up not wanting. But, he does a very grown up thing. When he finds out the world is going to end, he doesn’t scream this to the world, as he knows that it’ll make no difference. Instead, he gives the whole world a gift. He makes sure everyone enjoys themselves and has a great big party before the end comes.

This play of youth versus wisdom is what turns this tale from ‘good idea’ to ‘great execution’. It leaves its mark.

Would we do the same in his situation? Would we want to know when the world ends in the first place? Is this the question the author had in their mind when writing it?

What did you think of this one? Do you have any tales or any writers who need to be talked about more?

May your shadow never grow less,

Paul O

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