Short Fiction · Chapters
Chapters explained
Chapter companions for Short Fiction by R. A. Lafferty.
Chapter 1
The Six Fingers of Time
Charles Vincent, having mastered the ability to accelerate his personal time by a factor of sixty, uses his power to read thousands of books, learn dozens of languages, and play ghostly pranks on the world. He is haunted by a faceless Old Man who warns him of a deadly race between success and failure, and by dreams of a six-fingered hand from the pit. Vincent's gentle interactions with the unafraid spinster Jennifer Parkey contrast with his growing obsession with a book linking genius to extra digits, and his study of cuneiform tablets hints at an ancient, ominous counting system.
Chapter 2
McGonigal's Worm
The chapter describes the global catastrophe of sudden infertility affecting all chordates, the discovery that only McGonigal's Worm remains fertile, and the establishment of the M.W. Institute to study it. It follows Georgina Hickle, a worker at the institute who develops a mysterious condition that turns out to be pregnancy, leading to superstitious beliefs about the worm's fertility powers. The chapter also covers the societal aftermath, including the Last Child betting sweepstakes, the decline of schools and morals, and the futile efforts of various institutes to preserve human knowledge.
Chapter 3
The Polite People of Pudibundia
Marlow learns about the extraordinarily polite alien species known as the Puds from a briefing officer, who explains their customs of never looking directly at others, using color-coded glasses, and speaking in elaborate circumlocutions. Marlow, a homicide captain, reveals he is investigating why no old pilots return from Pudibundia. Upon visiting, Marlow is hosted by the One-Million-Times-Lesser-Marlow, who gives him a deferential ball to maintain politeness. Marlow explores the planet's nightlife with Mitzi, who hints that he will not return. In a final meeting, Marlow demands to see OMTLM's eyes, believing the answer lies there.
Chapter 4
In the Garden
The crew of the Little Probe lands on a moon-town and encounters a man and woman, Ha-Adamah and Hawwah, in a pristine garden. The beings claim to be the only people, possess a preternatural intellect, and live in perfect happiness. After three days, the crew becomes convinced they have found Paradise, but the tycoon Casper Craig immediately plans to exploit it for settlement. Meanwhile, in a cave, a two-legged serpent named Snake-Oil Sam reveals the entire setup is a trap to lure settlers for plunder.
Chapter 5
All the People
Anthony Trotz, a man who suddenly knows every person in the world, interviews a politician, a philosopher, and a priest to understand the limits of human knowledge and connection. He is confronted by Colonel Peter Cooper, who reveals that Anthony is not truly human but an artificial consciousness—an adjunct to a massive brain at a filter center designed to monitor the auras of all people. His purpose is to detect anomalies, such as the arrival of seven beings not born into the world, but Anthony realizes the aliens are actually other restricted persons like himself.
Chapter 6
The Weirdest World
The chapter explores the bizarre and inexplicable nature of reality, focusing on the absurdity of existence and the limits of human knowledge. It delves into the strange events that challenge characters' perceptions and their sense of identity.
Chapter 7
I
A starfarer, marooned on an alien planet by his crew after failing a psychological test, records his observations and encounters with the local life forms. He communicates with bird-like creatures and is captured by three humanoid 'giant grubs' who debate killing him but ultimately decide to sell him to Billy Wilkins' Reptile Farm.
Chapter 8
II
The blob, now calling himself George Albert Leroy Ellery McIntosh, is sold to Billy Wilkins for his reptile ranch. He is placed in a snake house with a python named Pete, and later meets Blackjack Bracken, who proposes a nightclub act. The blob negotiates a joint contract, demonstrating his intelligence and adaptability. He also talks to birds and turtles, and befriends Eustace, a painter who gives him his human name.
Chapter 9
III
The blob narrator observes the polarity between two types of people (Beta and Gamma, or Boy and Girl) and finds himself attracted to Margaret, a Gamma singer. He uses his superior mathematical understanding to win at the casino, gaining wealth and control over his environment. He acquires businesses, helps his friends, and plans to marry Margaret, enjoying a period of happiness and success.
Chapter 10
IV
The blob recounts his sudden downfall after a court ruling declares that a blob cannot own property in Florida, stripping him of his fortune. His friends abandon him, Margaret leaves him, and he retreats to the woods to die, preparing to launch a warning message into space.
Chapter 11
Aloys
Professor Aloys Foulcault-Oeg, a brilliant but impoverished scholar, receives a prestigious award and travels to a great city to accept it. Overwhelmed by fear and self-doubt, he nearly disintegrates before the ceremony, but emerges transformed, delivering a spellbinding three-and-a-half-hour speech that leaves the audience of eminent men in awe. Afterward, he casually asks the patron Maecenas to cash the check he had forgotten, which he had endorsed with a formula.
Chapter 12
Seven-Day Terror
Nine-year-old Clarence Willoughby builds a 'disappearer' from a beer can and cardboard, causing objects and even people to vanish for exactly seven days. His younger sister Clarissa, who knows how to reverse the effect, eventually restores everything after a week of chaos, revealing that she had read the instructions in Clarence's diary.
Chapter 13
Dream World
Bascomb Swicegood overhears Teresa Ananias describing a grotesque dream to her friend Agnes Schoenapfel, and realizes he had the identical nightmare. The shared dream—featuring a world of green rain, warthog-like people, and stomach rats—spreads globally, causing widespread distress, suicide, and social chaos. A voice in the dream claims the nightmare world is real and waking life is the dream, leading to a crisis of reality. A worldwide broadcast urges collective choice, and the dream suddenly vanishes after six weeks. Bascomb later encounters Teresa and Agnes again, and the three reminisce about the horror and lingering loneliness of the experience.
Chapter 14
Sodom and Gomorrah, Texas
Texas Manuel, an unqualified but earnest census taker, is assigned to count the population of the Santa Magdalena sector. Despite clear instructions to count only people, Manuel's literal interpretation leads him to also enumerate the 'little people'—a tiny, intelligent species living underground. This act provokes the little people, who capture Manuel and his mule Mula, forcing them to work a treadmill for thirty-five years. Upon escaping, Manuel returns to High Plains with a microfilm list of a million names. The town, desperate to inflate its population, certifies the list, but the little people retaliate by destroying High Plains with a miniature super-weapon, leaving only two desolate craters known as Sodom and Gomorrah.
