Special Delivery story
Boys all over the country are buying mail-order mushrooms to grow in their cellars. Bill and Cynthia Fortnam are worried when their neighbor mysteriously disappears after warning them that something catastrophic is going to happen. Bill posits an alien invasion by space spores that grow into mushrooms and possess human bodies after being eaten. This is confirmed when Bill's son, Tom, acts strangely, and demands that Bill eat some of his mail-order mushrooms. Directed by: Norman Lloyd. Story by: Ray Bradbury.
12 total · 1 choice · 4 major · 7 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| subversive life form from outer space | choice | The grand revelation of the story was evidently that some mushroom-like aliens had seeded Earth with human-co-opting space spores as a prelude to invasion. |
| father and son | major | Bill became increasingly worried about his young son Tom's cultivating of a match of mail-order mushrooms. |
| husband and wife | major | The story follows Bill and Cynthia Fortnam as they attempt to find out why their neighbor disappeared after he expressed a concern that something catastrophic was about to happen. |
| mother and son | major | Cynthia became increasingly worried about her young son Tom's cultivating of a match of mail-order mushrooms. |
| what if people around me started disappearing one by one | major | The story was set in a town where people were mysteriously disappearing. |
| gardening | minor | The youngster Tom was enthusiastically cultivating some mail-order mushrooms in the basement. |
| human childhood | minor | The youngster Tom was enthusiastically cultivating some mail-order mushrooms in the basement. |
| mind control ability | minor | Under the influence of nefarious fungi from outer space, Tom used mental powers to make his father eat a mushroom in the end. |
| neighbor and neighbor | minor | Bill and Cynthia Fortna took steps to find they neighbor, Roger, who'd suddenly and mysteriously disappeared. |
| precognition | minor | Bill quoted the Three Witches from MacBeth as saying "By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes" in response to Roger's premonition that something catastrophic was about to happen. |