Larry Thomas bought a cuckoo clock for his wife--without knowing the price he would have to pay.
ate. Doris stared at it, her hand to her mouth. "My God, what is it?" She looked up at him, bright-eyed.
"Well, open it."
Doris tore the ribbon and paper from the square package with her sharp nails, her bosom rising and falling. Larry stood watching her as she lifted the lid. He lit a cigarette and leaned against the wall.
"A cuckoo clock!" Doris cried. "A real old cuckoo clock like my mother had." She turned the clock over and over. "Just like my mother had, when Pete was still alive." Her eyes sparkled with tears.
"It's made in Germany," Larry said. After a moment he added, "Carl got it for me wholesale. He knows some guy in the clock business. Otherwise I wouldn't have--" He stopped.
Doris made a funny little sound.
"I mean, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to afford it." He scowled. "What's the matter with you? You've got your clock, haven't you? Isn't that what yo
Creepy. Read it on Gutenberg first, saw it here too. Like "Living Doll" episode of Twilight Zone.
A story of human cruelty, adultery, and a cuckoo clock. Is the clock sentient, or does it know its friends and enemies at only an instinctual level?
Mediocre Phil Dick. The characters are sketchy and the plot predictable.
Possibly the daftest story that I've ever read. I was bored halfway through, already guessing what was going to happen.
