Story Book 3
Story Book 3
Story Book 3
by Philip K. Dick
The Eyes Have It (1953) is Dick's clever sci-fi full of idioms and puns, featured in our collection
of 75 Short-Short Stories.
You may also enjoy our Science Fiction Guide and Dystopian Stories.
And the author? A slow suspicion burned in my mind. The author was taking it
rather too easily in his stride. Evidently, he felt this was quite a usual thing. He
made absolutely no attempt to conceal this knowledge. The story continued:
...presently his eyes fastened on Julia.
Julia, being a lady, had at least the breeding to feel indignant. She is
described as blushing and knitting her brows angrily. At this, I sighed with
relief. They weren't all non-Terrestrials. The narrative continues:
I couldn't tell her. Knowledge like this was too much for the ordinary run-of-
the-mill person. I had to keep it to myself. "Nothing," I gasped. I leaped up,
snatched the book, and hurried out of the room.
* * * * *
In the garage, I continued reading. There was more. Trembling, I read the
next revealing passage:
...he put his arm around Julia. Presently she asked him if he would remove his
arm. He immediately did so, with a smile.
It's not said what was done with the arm after the fellow had removed it.
Maybe it was left standing upright in the corner. Maybe it was thrown away. I
don't care. In any case, the full meaning was there, staring me right in the
face.
I read on. And came to this incredible revelation, tossed off coolly by the
author without the faintest tremor:
...outside the movie theater we split up. Part of us went inside, part over to the
cafe for dinner.
Binary fission, obviously. Splitting in half and forming two entities. Probably
each lower half went to the cafe, it being farther, and the upper halves to the
movies. I read on, hands shaking. I had really stumbled onto something here.
My mind reeled as I made out this passage:
...I'm afraid there's no doubt about it. Poor Bibney has lost his head again.
Which was followed by:
There was no doubt of the thing in the next passage. Julia, whom I had
thought to be the one normal person, reveals herself as also being an alien
life form, similar to the rest:
...quite deliberately, Julia had given her heart to the young man.
It didn't relate what the final disposition of the organ was, but I didn't really
care. It was evident Julia had gone right on living in her usual manner, like all
the others in the book. Without heart, arms, eyes, brains, viscera, dividing up
in two when the occasion demanded. Without a qualm.
...her eyes followed him all the way down the road and across the meadow.