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"A Child is Crying" is a short story by John D. MacDonald, about a boy with the ability to predict the future. The story was first published in the December, 1948 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories.

Spoiler Warning: Plot details and/or information about the ending follow. If you wish to enjoy the work first, stop reading here and return at another time.

Plot

Billy is a supersmart child, with the ability to tell the future and to control other people. Billy is recruited by the government for study and experimentation. The government scientists give him a truth serum, and under its influence Billy reveals that there will be a nuclear war in about forty days. Billy cannot prevent the war, but he knows that he will survive it. His purpose, and the purpose of the thousand or so just like him in other parts of the world, is to see to it that this is the last such war to take place.

Reprints

This story has been reprinted in, among other places, Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 10 (1948).