Ray Bradbury 2004 The Pedestrian (read by David Horovitch)

6 months ago
29

"The Pedestrian" is a science fiction short story by American writer Ray Bradbury. This story was originally published in the August 7, 1951 issue of The Reporter by The Fortnightly Publishing Company.[1] It is included in the collection The Golden Apples of the Sun (1953), but was dropped from later editions of this collection (1990 and 1997).
Summary
The story features Leonard Mead, a citizen of a television-centered world in November of A.D. 2053. In the city the sidewalks have fallen into decay. Mead enjoys walking through the city at night, something which no one else does. "In ten years of walking by night or day, for thousands of miles, he had never met another person walking, not one in all that time." On one of his usual walks, he encounters a police car, which is robotic.

It is the only police unit in a city of three million as the purpose of law enforcement has disappeared with everyone watching television at night. When asked about his profession Mead tells the car that he is a writer, but the car does not understand since no one buys books or magazines in the television-dominated society. The police car, which is revealed to have no occupants, cannot understand why Mead would be out walking for no reason, and so it decides to take him to the Psychiatric Center for Research on Regressive Tendencies.

As the car passes through his neighborhood, Mead, locked in the confines of the back seat says, "That's my house," as he points to a warm and bright house with all its lights on, unlike all the other houses. There is no reply, and the story concludes.

Loading comments...