Button, Button: Uncanny Stories

Carrie and her abusive husband Greg are featured in “Girl of My Dreams.” In this dark psychological thriller, Carrie receives prophetic dreams of people’s impending deaths. Greg hates Carrie and uses her talent by exploiting the people featured in her dreams. Whenever Greg looks at Carrie, he fantasizes about hurting her, insulting her, or leaving her. Carrie feels trapped under Greg’s influence until she decides to break free by telling one doomed boy’s mother the details of when and where he will die. She does this to prevent Greg from profiting from the sale of the information. Greg overhears and kills Carrie with the same phone she was just using. As she lies dying, she tells Greg how he will die but neglects to mention the time or place, and she leaves him to fear his death for every moment of the rest of his life. Carrie and Greg’s story is an extreme and gruesome representation of The Dilemmas of Marriage, demonstrating the idea that twisted power dynamics can lead to violent consequences.

Jean is the protagonist in “Dying Room Only.” She and her husband Bob find themselves in a café in the middle of the desert, with three men who appear to be in cahoots with one another. Bob vanishes after going to use the restroom, leaving Jean alone with the men. She begins to panic, and the story focuses on her emotional state and speeding thoughts as she figures out how to handle the situation and find her husband. Jean panics internally, but externally, she remains strong despite her precarious position, alone in a strange place with men whom she suspects have hurt Bob. She calls the sheriff and together they manage to corral the men and have themselves led to where Bob was dropped in the desert. Jean’s story is one of the only happy endings in the collection, proving that not all of Matheson’s featured couples will find themselves overcome by The Dilemmas of Marriage.

Frank and Sylvia are the married couple featured in “A Flourish of Strumpets.” Their story centers around The Dilemmas of Marriage and how temptation paired with dissatisfaction can lead one to make disastrous choices. Frank and Sylvia are accosted by sex workers who begin visiting their house every single night and offering their services. Despite Frank’s determined resistance, they keep coming back, and Frank eventually succumbs to his desires despite his own wife’s irritation at the whole situation. After sleeping with a sex worker, he feels immense guilt. In the story’s ending, a man from the service shows up asking to speak Sylvia, suggesting that Frank’s secret is about to be exposed and that the service was more than just a ploy for money.

Dr. Petre Gheria is the protagonist in “No Such Thing as a Vampire.” He is a highly deceptive and vengeful character who seeks revenge on his wife and her lover (who is also his friend) after he discovers that the two are having an affair. The premise of the story shows the doctor deceiving everyone involved into thinking that vampires are responsible for the staged attacks against his wife. Matheson tells the story in such a way that the doctor’s plot against his wife remains hidden, and even the style of the storytelling is designed to invoke Gothic tropes that support the veracity of the man’s claim of vampires. Only at the story’s conclusion does Matheson reveal that Gheria is performing an elaborate hoax to set up his friend to be murdered by the butler. He has no qualms about stealing his wife’s blood or about allowing her to believe that she is being attacked by a supernatural force in the night. The story is an unconventional take on two conventions of literature: vampires and marital affairs.

Richard Allen Shaggley is a science fiction writer and the only character in “Pattern for Survival.” He takes on several aliases, all of which closely resemble his own name (Dick Allen, R. A.), and then proceeds to write, review, print, publish, sell, and buy his own work. Shaggley walks around in an isolated world and constantly wonders to himself when things are going to be repaired; his wandering thoughts suggest that the world around him is utterly ruined. Immersed in his dystopian existence, Shaggley uses this “pattern for survival” to motivate himself to carry on despite the bleak reality that surrounds him. His routine is therefore revealed to be a true act of Hope in the Wake of Destruction, especially given that all of his stories feature settings filled with peace and beauty.

Paal Nielsen is the protagonist of “Mute.” He is a young boy who is discovered outside his family’s home as it burns to the ground with his parents inside of it. Paal cannot speak at all and has never heard other people speak until now. The result is a complete shock to his mind, and this new experience, paired with the fire, renders him immobile. Paal’s silence was instilled in him from birth because his parents were intent on training him to become telepathic. He was raised by people who gave him affection only out of duty, denying him the genuine love that a child needs. Because of this, Paal doesn’t know how to react to Cora’s unconditional motherly love.

Paal’s backstory is shrouded in mystery at first, but it soon becomes clear that he was part of an international experiment involving multiple families. When he first comes to the sheriff’s home, he can still use his mind to see his parents’ burned bodies, and he can send messages to Cora subconsciously. However, as time goes on and Paal is enrolled in school, his abilities are forced out of him, and all he remembers in the end is his name. One character sees this as a bittersweet conclusion because while Paal has lost a unique gift, he has also gained a genuinely loving family. This dualistic ending represents a new interpretation of Hope in the Wake of Destruction.

Mr. Moffat is the protagonist in “Shock Wave.” He is an elderly organist who plays for the local church, but who has been told that his organ is old and worn out. Mr. Moffat’s own retirement is also fast approaching, and this event gives rise to his existential dread over the thought of his own death. In this context, the organ becomes a symbol of his own existential crisis. He resists the notion that the organ is too worn to be used any longer, and as he tries to prove it, he fails miserably. Instead, the organ takes on Mr. Moffat’s burden and expresses his anger, fear, and grief through magnificent and destructive sound waves. By destroying the very church he loved, Mr. Moffatt demonstrates The Devastating Effects of Selfishness, and it is only when his cousin pulls him from the crumbling church that Mr. Moffat is offered a chance at Hope in the Wake of Destruction.

The trumpet player is a Black jazz musician featured in the story “The Jazz Machine.” Before the main events of the story, he lost his brother to a violent attack by white people who were racist. The trumpet player imbues his music with his deep grief, and a white man in the audience notices the emotion behind the playing. He invites the trumpet player to see his jazz machine, which converts jazz music back into the raw emotion and soul behind it. The trumpet player tries the machine and finds that it does exactly what the man claimed, so the trumpet player destroys it. He does this because he sees jazz as an expression of the very heart of Black oppression. The last thing he wants is for jazz to be stolen by the people who oppress him. As he states, “Take everything you want, man / You will because you have / But don’t come scuffling for our souls” (198).