# SF short story ID help please. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 1, 2001, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-short-story-id-help-please/90925 "2001-11-01T15:50:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rue\_DeDay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/41988e/32.png) [@Rue\_DeDay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rue_DeDay)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2001, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-short-story-id-help-please/90925/1 "2001-11-01T15:50:31Z")
I was reminded of a SF story by a post by [**Fiendish Astronaut**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=1777039#post1777039). A man and (presumably) his wife are about to take a trip. She’s trying to cheer him up, or something. (I think they are going to Washington D.C. Or not.) It is revealed that the “wife” is really a Space Alien in a disguise and she reports back to her superiors on the guy’s behaviour. It’s all an elaborate set-up for a big “Earth People Psych Experiement”. The guy finds out his whole life is one big hoax when he goes back in the house and it’s only raining on one side. (They might be dismantling the set of his back yard too.) I thought it was a Heinlein story. (It still might be.) Maybe _The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag_. But it isn’t. When I checked that story, they re-create the world and Randall and Cynthia see it through the car window when it’s rolled down. It could be a different Heinlein story, or one written about the same time. (1959) It has a similar feel in the writing style. I seem to remember it as part of an anthology. It wasn’t a complete novel, more a short story or novella. I know it’s not a unique plot for a SF story, and I really don’t know who wrote it, so I’m open to any suggestions. So… [ul] Space Aliens experimenting on Earth Man “Wife” is a Space Alien in disguise. Guy finds out when he goes back in his house when he’s not supposed to. It’s raining. Maybe by Heinlein, maybe not. [/ul] (This is what I get from grazing through the library’s SF section.) -Rue. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2001, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-short-story-id-help-please/90925/2 "2001-11-01T15:53:50Z")
No, I don’t think this is a Heinlein. I’ve read all of Heinlein’s (except the three un-reprinted ones). I’ve seen all the elements before, but I can’t think of one story that’s got 'em all. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2001, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-short-story-id-help-please/90925/3 "2001-11-01T16:41:17Z")
Yeah, it is a Heinlein story. It’s called “They” and it’s you’re right, it’s in _Jonathan Hoag_. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2001, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-short-story-id-help-please/90925/4 "2001-11-01T16:44:37Z")
I should say it’s in the collection _The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag_, but it’s not the title story, it’s one of the stories towards the back of the book. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2001, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-short-story-id-help-please/90925/5 "2001-11-01T16:44:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rue DeDay \* > [ul] > Space Aliens experimenting on Earth Man > “Wife” is a Space Alien in disguise. > Guy finds out when he goes back in his house when he’s not supposed to. > It’s raining. > Maybe by Heinlein, maybe not. > [/ul] > > (This is what I get from grazing through the library’s SF section.) > -Rue. \*\* “They” by Robert Heinlein. It’s in the collection “Unpleasant Profession…”. It’s a little more complicated than space aliens. It’s more like Godlike being is being deceived into believing his is merely human, by organization which includes his wife. The partial rainstorm is the giveaway that all is not what it should be. Heinlein must have liked the story - he put a reference to the mysterious head conspirator (Glaroon) in Stranger in a strange land. Andy ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2001, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-short-story-id-help-please/90925/6 "2001-11-01T16:46:29Z")
and Podkayne beats me to the punch. Andy ---
**Author:** ![Rue\_DeDay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/41988e/32.png) [@Rue\_DeDay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rue_DeDay)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2001, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-short-story-id-help-please/90925/7 "2001-11-01T19:39:30Z")
Thanks **Poddy** (and **Andy** too, of course). Nice try **Cal** , no hard feelings. From the OP, the story could have been, what? Any one of 15,000 stories, novellas, novels or TV show episodes? I _thought_ it was Heinlein, but you could have said “No, that sounds like Elmore Leonard.” and I wouldn’t have been surprised. (I would be surprised that Elmore Leonard wrote a SF book I read at one time, but not that he’d have a story that fit at least some of the points I remembered.) Here I had _Jonathan Hoag_ in my hot little hands (it’s one of the pitiful few Heinlein books I own) and I skipped right over “They”. (It’s about giant ants, right?) The poetic aspect of **Podkayne** IDing a Heinlein story is not lost on me. -Rue. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2001, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-short-story-id-help-please/90925/8 "2001-11-02T00:35:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rue DeDay \* > The poetic aspect of **Podkayne** IDing a Heinlein story is not lost on me. I grok, baby, I grok. Better luck next time, **AndyL** –but yer up against the quickest draw this side of the Grand Canal. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2001, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-short-story-id-help-please/90925/9 "2001-11-02T01:56:14Z")
> [@](#): > > Nice try Cal, no hard feelings. 'sOK. It _has_ been a lng time since I read TUPOJH. Let’s see… 25 years !!! Time to pull that one out again…