Crazy as a Soup Sandwich story
A man sells his soul to a demon for some racing tips. After being terrified by the demon he goes for help from the criminal boss he borrowed the track money from. Directed by: Paul Lynch. Story by: Harlan Ellison.
10 total · 2 choice · 4 major · 4 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| deal with the devil | choice | Arky struck a deal first with the treacherous, homicidal demon Volkerps, and then the story ended with Arky being left to make a deal with the even worse demon Nino. |
| demon | choice | The demon Volkerps and in the end presumably the gangster Nino himself. |
| cowardice | major | The story started by pointing out how cowardly Arky was, then demonstrated a variety of cowardly acts by different people. |
| facing loan sharks | major | Arky had borrowed money from Nino at 750 percent interest. |
| fear | major | Arky was in a panicked terror over a legitimate concern that a demon was going to take him away and eat him. |
| organized crime | major | Nino was clearly a gangster who had the whole city under his thumb - he enumerated some of his criminal capabilities to the oracle woman. |
| boredom | minor | The gangster Nino spoke of his days and night being filled with ennui since such time as he had mastered all the usual underworld rackets. |
| corruption in society | minor | The underworld crime boss Nino was reminded by his secretary that he had a dinner scheduled with the mayor. He also told the oracle woman that she could call the police because they work for him. |
| father and son | minor | Volkerps met his dad in the box. |
| infatuation | minor | Nino and his secretary/accountant Miss Thorne. |