Short Stories
"In the Ruins"
Information Plot/Description
Information
- Actual text:
- First published:
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Plot/Description
This is a very short and gruesome little story. I'm
guessing Dahl originally wrote it as a magazine piece. It's only been
reprinted a few times.
Spoiler Warning! The narrator is walking through
"the ruins", presumably some village after it has been ravaged by war. He
comes across a man sitting on the ground and sawing off his own leg. The
man has a hypodermic needle next to him, which obviously contained some
sort of an anesthetic. This "doctor" offers the narrator "some". The
narrator is crazy with hunger and accepts. The doctor says he will share
as long as the narrator promises to "produce the next meal". He also
assures the narrator that he is "uncontaminated". He explains that the
hypodermic was a "caudal injection", which is applied to the base of the
spine. "You don't feel a thing." The narrator gathers some wood and makes
a fire. He begins to roast the meat. A little girl comes up, drawn by the
smoke and smell of cooking. The doctor offers her some of the meat, but
tells her that she will have to "pay it back later". The doctor observes
that with the three of them, they should be able to survive for quite a
long time. "I want my mummy," the child begins to cry. "Sit down," the
doctor told her. "I'll take care of you."
(If you didn't get it, they were eating the doctor's
leg. His plan to survive is that they will each provide body parts for
food.)
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