The Screaming Woman

[cyberghostface]

June 5th marks the first anniversary of Ray Bradbury's death so figured I'd post a few of his stories from EC in his memory until then.

First up is 'The Screaming Woman' which was adapted in Crime Suspenstories #15.



Margaret's parents don't believe her, but her father indulges her and says he'll help dig her up after they eat lunch. Margaret gets anxious and tells him to hurry.




Her father tells her that she's probably not feeling well and goes back inside. She tries to dig a hole herself when one of her friends comes over and asks what's going on. They hear the scream again but her friend is convinced that she's throwing her voice and wants to know how she did it. She says that she'll tell him if he helps her dig.

Suddenly, Mr. Kelly, an old man who owns the lot, comes over and tells them to stop digging and makes them fill back in the hole. They hear the screaming again but he apparently ignores it. Margaret assumes that he must be the one who buried the woman, it's only until later does she realize that the man is mostly deaf.

Margaret decides to visit her neighbors to see if anyone is missing. She finally comes upon the house of her neighbors, the Nesbitts. She asks Mr. Nesbitt where his wife is and he tells her that she's off to see her mother. When he asks why, she tells him about the screams.

Comments

[shadowpsykie]

i love me some Bradbury!

[dustbunny105]

I think I remember reading this as a short story back in middle school.

...Wow.

[glprime]

"Somebody's in danger? Well tough titty to that. I've got a steak to enjoy!"

Simpler times, I guess.

[fungo_squiggly]

"...But by the time they dug her up, she was already dead, of course. In retrospect I guess it was kind of amazing that she lasted as long as she did before her air ran out. Mr. Nesbitt got the electric chair, as I recall, and old Mr. Kelly was left a broken, guilt-ridden shell of a man. But on the bright side, whenever my folks aren't listening to me, now I just tell them, 'Hey mom and dad, remember when you two idiots let that poor lady die a horrible death instead of helping me save her? So shut the fuck up.' And then they do!"

[captainbellman]

I recall reading somewhere that when Bradbury happened to see an EC comic on a newstand with one of his stories in it - and found out this had been happening for ages, unauthorised - instead of calling his lawyer he tried the clever, generous approach.

He simply sent them a note saying that he was still awaiting his royalties for the published issues, and until he got them he wouldn't be sending EC any more stories. They wised up and paid him, and he agreed to adapt some of his better works into comic scripts for them from then on.

[sadoeuphemist]

Haha, that was swell of him:

“Just a note to remind you of an oversight. You have not as yet sent on the check for $50.00 to cover the use of secondary rights on my two stories ‘The Rocket Man’ and ‘Kaleidoscope. … I feel this was probably overlooked in the general confusion of office work, and look forward to your payment in the near future.”

http://www.salon.com/2012/06/21/ray_bradbury_1950s_comics_illustrated_man/

[captainbellman]

He should have asked for more than $50. "Kaleidoscope" is one of the finest things he ever wrote.

[janegray]

Reminds me of "Not Now, Bernard."

Anyway, I'm surprised the guy didn't kill the girl when he learned that she knew what happened. And I wonder if they can save Helen, if she passed out there might be the remote chance that she could last a few more hours, since unconscious people need less oxygen.

[captainbellman]

Ahhh, I remember that one! Used to be a favourite of mine when I was tiny. Did you ever read "Big Bad Barney Bear", by the same author?

[janegray]

To be honest, the first time I ever heard of NNB was a couple of years ago, and I'm 28. I learned about it in the context of a scandal in France where a lot of children had been systematically raped, and the pedophiles had been able to get away with it for a long time because the children were ignored by their families when they tried to say that something was very wrong. Commenters were saying things like "didn't people learn anything from NNB!?"

Then again, I am Italian, and the British David McKee isn't very well-known here...

[neurotic_kitten]

I could swear there was a movie based on this story, the Bradbury original, not the comic, but I can't remember very well.

To Wikipedia!