# Alfred Hitchcock Short Story **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 25, 2016, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alfred-hitchcock-short-story/769712 "2016-10-25T19:05:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bittycity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@bittycity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bittycity)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alfred-hitchcock-short-story/769712/1 "2016-10-25T19:05:02Z")
Okay there was a short story in an Alfred Hitchcock book and the last line was “Behind her in the darkness of the living room, someone cleared his throat…” - does anyone have any idea of the name of the short story or the author? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alfred-hitchcock-short-story/769712/2 "2016-10-25T19:08:18Z")
I googled what you quoted and it hit on Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury ---
**Author:** ![bittycity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@bittycity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bittycity)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alfred-hitchcock-short-story/769712/3 "2016-10-25T19:09:08Z")
thank you ---
**Author:** ![bittycity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@bittycity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bittycity)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alfred-hitchcock-short-story/769712/4 "2016-10-25T19:10:50Z")
No that was a book - this was a short story but thanks anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alfred-hitchcock-short-story/769712/5 "2016-10-25T19:17:04Z")
Moved to Cafe Society. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alfred-hitchcock-short-story/769712/6 "2016-10-25T19:17:10Z")
Looks like he used it in “The Whole Town’s Sleeping” as the last line, more keeping with your op. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alfred-hitchcock-short-story/769712/7 "2016-10-25T19:17:13Z")
**Moderator Action** Moving thread from GQ to Cafe Society, our home for questions about literary works. Also, fixed typo in thread title. ETA: Simul-mod. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alfred-hitchcock-short-story/769712/8 "2016-10-25T19:18:12Z")
Here’s a PDF of “The Whole Town’s Sleeping”: > **[The%20Whole%20Town%20is%20Sleeping%20Bradbury.pdf](https://www.cabarrus.k12.nc.us/cms/lib09/NC01910456/Centricity/Domain/4127/The%20Whole%20Town%20is%20Sleeping%20Bradbury.pdf)** > > 190.12 KB ---
**Author:** ![Tapiotar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alfred-hitchcock-short-story/769712/9 "2016-10-25T19:29:31Z")
That terrified me when I was a kid. In case you’re interested, what comes next is mentioned in the whole novel, in passing… ---
**Author:** ![bittycity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@bittycity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bittycity)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alfred-hitchcock-short-story/769712/10 "2016-10-25T19:29:37Z")
Thank you so much!!! ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2016, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alfred-hitchcock-short-story/769712/11 "2016-10-25T20:07:42Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > Looks like he used it in “The Whole Town’s Sleeping” as the last line, more keeping with your op. That story was part of _Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories for Late at Night_, published in 1961. It’s an excerpt from _Dandelion Wine_. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alfred-hitchcock-short-story/769712/12 "2016-10-27T00:47:30Z")
Since this about the last line of a short story in an Alfred Hitchcock book, I thought it was going to be one of my favorites, found in _Stories for Late at Night_ It’s from Gouveneur Morris (the grandson of the Constitution guy) who wrote [Back There in the Grass](http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27934/27934-h/27934-h.htm#BACK_THERE_IN_THE_GRASS). The last line is [spoiler]“How is she?” “Seems to be pulling through. I heard you fire both barrels. What luck?” — That’s the end of the story, and he arranged it so it came at the bottom of the page. You turned the page, and it was the next story. I thought it was a misprint, but just a really clever ending. [/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alfred-hitchcock-short-story/769712/13 "2016-10-27T03:24:34Z")
> [@sitchensis](#): > > Looks like he used it in “The Whole Town’s Sleeping” as the last line, more keeping with your op. To be precise, it was earlier published separately and later used as a chapter in the book. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alfred-hitchcock-short-story/769712/14 "2016-10-27T14:16:16Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > To be precise, it was earlier published separately and later used as a chapter in the book. Correct. _Dandelion Wine_, like so many of Bradbury’s early “novels,” are collections of related short stories patched together with new material. “When You Were Sleeping” was first published in _McCall’s_, September 1950. The complete _Dandelion Wine_. > [@](#): > > ``` > Chapter 1: (original) > Chapter 2: Illumination (1957) > Chapter 3: Dandelion Wine (1953) > Chapters 4-5: Summer in the Air (1956) (aka The Sound of Summer Running) > Chapter 6: (original) > Chapter 7: The Season of Sitting (1951) > Chapters 8-9, 11, 13: The Happiness Machine (1957) > Chapter 10: The Night (1946) (text was substantially rewritten for this appearance) > Chapter 12: The Lawns of Summer (1952) > Chapter 14: (original) > Chapters 15-16: Season of Disbelief (1950) > Chapters 17-18: The Last, the Very Last (aka The Time Machine) > Chapter 19: The Green Machine (1951) > Chapter 20: The Trolley (1955) > Chapters 21-22: Statues (original) > Chapters 23-24: Exorcism (original) > Chapters 25-26: The Window (1950) (aka Calling Mexico) > Chapter 27: (original) > Chapters 28-29: The Swan (1954) > Chapters 30-31 The Whole Town's Sleeping (1950) > Chapter 32 Good-By, Grandma (1957) (aka The Leave-Taking) > Chapter 33: (original) > Chapter 34: The Tarot Witch (original) > Chapter 35: (original) > Chapters 36-38 Dinner at Dawn (1954) > Chapter 39: The Magical Kitchen (sources disagree if this is part of "Dinner at Dawn" as it was originally published) > Chapter 40 Green Wine for Dreaming (original) > > ```