Please help me locate this story - originally in Readers' Digest

In My Humble Opinion
1

The story titled ‘Watches of the Night’ appeared in the Readers’ Digest magazine in the late 80s I think. The short story is about a woman author reflecting on the loss of loved ones in the wee hours of the morning, unable to sleep. The story (may have been semi-autobiographical) was moving and I immediately liked it. However it seems to have disappeared from the internet. (I managed to locate and download it a few years ago, only to lose it again.) Can anyone help me locate this story, or identify the issue of RD in which it was printed, and I will try to buy it on eBay. TIA!

2

Was it an actual short story, or was it one of their condensed books? Fiction or non-fiction (I know you mentioned semi-autobiographical, but that can still apply to both!)? What section did it appear in? Since RD was effectively a news aggregater, do you recall if it was attributed to another publication?

Answers to these may help.

3

(Also, is it “watches” or “watchers”?)

4

You mean the Rudyard Kipling story?

5

Here’s one with the same title, but it’s more about Jesus than lost loved ones, so might not be the same one you are looking for.

6

EBSCOhost’s index of Reader’s Digest does not find any article by that title, using either Watches or Watchers back to 1984.

7

You can look at the covers for back issues at this website (I already did a search for 1984 - 1989):

https://backissues.com/titles/Readers-Digest-Magazine/46?sortBy=codeAsc&dateRangeFrom=1984&dateRangeTo=1989

I did not look at all the covers, but you can.

8

Got it. December 1986. “Watches of the Night” by Ardis Whitman.

https://backissues.com/issue/Readers-Digest-December-1986

As for the actual text of the story, you’re on your own.

9

Comparing that with EBSCOhost, I now see that their indexing is less than complete. They show 4 articles in the December 1986 issue.

10

Congratulations!

lol, I read that “Ford: The Man and His Machine” book.

11

There are copies available at Amazon for about $7 including shipping.

12

Nice job!

13

Thank you! Thank you. :wink:

Fortunately, Reader’s Digest conveniently prints their TOC on the cover.

14

Yes, this seems to be it! Thanks so much! It’s nice to know we can still track stuff from the pre-electronic age. :cool: Thanks to all the good folks that responded. If the story is not the same, the search continues.

(Planning to buy this issue on Amazon or eBay.)