The upsetting books thread devolved a bit near the end into a discussion of "what really happened in Ray Bradbury’s ‘The October Game.’ " I’m always good, giving, and game when it comes to Ray Bradbury discussions…so whaddaya think?
I can never remember whether you can see spoiler-boxed text on mouseover or not, so just to be safe, we’ll skip over to a new post…
I’m inclined to say that yes,
He did kill Marion
if only because Bradbury is not one for understated endings–he likes to bludgeon you over the head with a quiet-but-overtly-terrifying ending. Think “The Whole Town’s Sleeping.” But on the other hand, I can see how it could be read as
coaxing Marion over to the dark side.
What say you?
I’ll have to re-read before giving a definitive answer, but I always went along with the idea that he had actually done it. And yes, the logistics are troubling…