"The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl" is a

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury (; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of modes, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery fictio ...

. It was first published in ''

Detective Book Magazine ''Detective Book Magazine'' was an American pulp science fiction magazine, published by Fiction House in 1930 to 1931 and from 1937 to 1952. Each edition of ''Detective Book Magazine'' contained the complete text of a detective novel. Most editi ...

'' in November 1948 (cover date: Winter) as "Touch and Go". The story was re-titled and published as "The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl" in ''

EQMM ''Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine'' is a bi-monthly American digest size fiction magazine specializing in crime fiction, particularly detective fiction, and mystery fiction. Launched in fall 1941 by Mercury Publications, Mercury Press, ''EQMM'' is ...

'' in January 1953. (Cover image: )

Plot summary

Mr. Acton begins the story standing over the body of Mr. Huxley, whom he has just killed. While attempting to cover up his tracks, he has flashbacks of his encounters with Mr. Huxley, with whom he is having an altercation over a woman. These flashbacks reveal to the murderer that there are more and more of his

fingerprint A fingerprint is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. The recovery of partial fingerprints from a crime scene is an important method of forensic science. Moisture and grease on a finger result in fingerprints on surfac ...

s all over the man's house, because he thought that he had touched so many different objects. His frenzy to remove all of the evidence distracts him from his actual objective, to get away with the crime. He is eventually caught, after polishing the entire house, while polishing and re-polishing the glass fruit at the bottom of a bowl.

References

Publication history

The story was included in several of Bradbury's short story collections: * ''

The Golden Apples of the Sun ''The Golden Apples of the Sun'' is an anthology of 22 short stories by American writer Ray Bradbury. It was published by Doubleday & Company in 1953. The book's title is also the title of the final story in the collection. The words "the go ...

'', 1953 * ''

The Vintage Bradbury ''The Vintage Bradbury'' (1965) was the first "best of" collection of the stories of Ray Bradbury, as selected by the author. It was published by Vintage Books, a paperback division of Random House. Contents * " The Watchful Poker Chip of H. Mati ...

'', 1965 * '' Twice 22'', 1966 * A Song Of Thunder and Other Stories, 2005

Adaptations in other media

This story was adapted to the EC

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

Crime SuspenStories ''Crime SuspenStories'' was a bi-monthly anthology crime comic published by EC Comics in the early 1950s. The title first arrived on newsstands with its October/November 1950 issue and ceased publication with its February/March 1955 issue, produc ...

#17 (April–May 1953) as "Touch and Go" by

Johnny Craig John Thomas Alexis Craig (April 25, 1926 – September 13, 2001),John T. Craig
at the ...

. () It was adapted as an episode of the television series ''

The Ray Bradbury Theater ''The Ray Bradbury Theater'' is an anthology series that ran for three seasons on First Choice Superchannel in Canada and HBO in the United States from 1985 to 1986, and then on USA Network, running for four additional seasons from 1988 to 19 ...

'' (January 23, 1988) as "The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl" with

Michael Ironside Frederick Reginald Ironside (born February 12, 1950), known as Michael Ironside, is a Canadian actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. He is known for playing villains and "tough guy" heroes, and has also portrayed sympathetic characters. E ...

and

Robert Vaughn Robert Francis Vaughn (November 22, 1932 – November 11, 2016) was an American actor noted for his stage, film and television work. His television roles include the spy Napoleon Solo in the 1960s series '' The Man from U.N.C.L.E.''; th ...

External links

* 1948 short stories Short stories by Ray Bradbury Crime short stories Works originally published in Detective Book Magazine {{1940s-crime-story-stub