# ID this short story **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 27, 2013, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-short-story/664645 "2013-07-27T02:41:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2013, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-short-story/664645/1 "2013-07-27T02:41:18Z")
Someone at work was relating the plot of a book she read, and it made me think of this story. It’s been driving me crazy all night that I can’t remember the title or who wrote it. I want to say Roald Dahl, but that doesn’t seem quite right. It’s a well known mid 20th century story. Anyway… A down-on-their-luck couple get visited by a strange man who makes them an unusual bargain. He presents them with a small box with a big red button on it. “If you push this button,” He informs them “I will give you a million dollars. BUT — some person who you do not know will be killed instantly.” The couple debate it, the husband doesn’t want to be responsible for another person’s (even a stranger’s) death. The wife says “who cares about some stranger? We need that money!” Ultimately, they push the button. The strange man gives them a million dollars, puts the box with a button away in his suitcase and heads out the door. “Hey wait a minute!” cries the husband, “can we know who got killed?” “Sure,” says the stranger cheerily as he gets in his car. “That’d be the LAST person before you who pressed the button.” Then he drives away. I can’t for the life of me remember who wrote this. I know someone who reads this must know it. Help!! ---
**Author:** ![DataX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DataX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataX)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2013, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-short-story/664645/2 "2013-07-27T02:50:15Z")
Button, Button? Not sure about the twist, but is seems to allude that is the case… > **[Button, Button (The Twilight Zone)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Button,_Button_(The_Twilight_Zone))** > > "Button, Button" is the second segment of the 20th episode from the first season (1985–86) of the television series The Twilight Zone. The segment is based on the 1970 short story of the same name by Richard Matheson; the same short story forms the basis of the 2009 film The Box. It poses the question of whether an ordinary person would be willing to cause a total stranger to die in exchange for $200,000 by simply pushing a button. In a documentary on the making of the movie The Box, Matheson sta... ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2013, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-short-story/664645/3 "2013-07-27T02:50:42Z")
Button, Button by Richard Matheson. Recently adapted for the movie [The Box](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0362478/). ---
**Author:** ![DataX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DataX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataX)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2013, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-short-story/664645/4 "2013-07-27T02:59:51Z")
Seems like the short story version twist is different from twilight zone twist. From what I read - shorty story twist is - husband dies - and when the wife protests she is told something like “well did you really know your husband.” In the TZ - it is as stated by OP. ---
**Author:** ![Phnord\_Prephect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Phnord\_Prephect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phnord_Prephect)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2013, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-short-story/664645/5 "2013-07-27T05:43:24Z")
I remember this story, but I remember the ending differently. The big point is that the couple won’t know who dies when/if they press the button, and that helps them to decide to press it. As the mysterious stranger is leaving, they ask “Now what happens?” He answers “Now the box goes to someone else… someone _you don’t know._” Much creepier ending that way, I think. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2013, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-short-story/664645/6 "2013-07-27T07:21:54Z")
The short story is available as a pdf as part of an reading course [here](http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CFoQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhrsbstaff.ednet.ns.ca%2Ftwatson%2Fadvanced_3_reading_buttonbutton_1_new_version1.pdf&ei=snLzUdrENIjEkgX8hYG4BQ&usg=AFQjCNHyRYjkSW9wyYgp9lc0LwQMPVdBQQ&sig2=J_T7sSnkm1XI6lsD1qp_vQ&bvm=bv.49784469,d.dGI) courtesy of the Halifax Regional School Board. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2013, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-short-story/664645/7 "2013-07-27T13:25:36Z")
Matheson hated the Twilight Zone ending, but I think his ending was just cheap freshman philosophizing; the TV version had a real punch. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-short-story/664645/8 "2013-07-27T14:59:41Z")
> [@Phnord\_Prephect](#): > > I remember this story, but I remember the ending differently. > > The big point is that the couple won’t know who dies when/if they press the button, and that helps them to decide to press it. > > As the mysterious stranger is leaving, they ask “Now what happens?” > > He answers “Now the box goes to someone else… someone _you don’t know._” > > Much creepier ending that way, I think. Yes this is the much better ending. I knew this was based on a short story and assumed it ended the same. I even have the story in a book somewhere but guess I never read it. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2013, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-short-story/664645/9 "2013-07-27T16:39:06Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > Yes this is the much better ending. I knew this was based on a short story and assumed it ended the same. I even have the story in a book somewhere but guess I never read it. This is the ending I remember, from the '80s TZ series. Good ending. There was a similar one in another episode: ‘I am the Shadow Man… from under someone _else’s_ bed!’ ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2013, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-short-story/664645/10 "2013-07-27T17:22:57Z")
I’m pretty sure there was a similar story in Chuck Palahniuk’s “Haunted,” but I don’t have it handy now so I can’t check. I’ll try to remember to check when I get home. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2013, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-short-story/664645/11 "2013-07-27T17:32:29Z")
> [@Phnord\_Prephect](#): > > I remember this story, but I remember the ending differently. > > The big point is that the couple won’t know who dies when/if they press the button, and that helps them to decide to press it. > > As the mysterious stranger is leaving, they ask “Now what happens?” > > He answers “Now the box goes to someone else… someone _you don’t know._” > > Much creepier ending that way, I think. Huh, I never connected the "someone you don’t know"s from the 2 parts of the story. There are so many people in the world that dying from this is like winning the lottery.