Summary of “Vacation” Bradbury
The day was fresh. He was woven of silence, but one could not say that the day was dumb. Bees, butterflies, insects living in the grass, the sound of the surf created a unique melody of nature. A railway ran through the hills, and it was immediately evident that trains had not been used for a long time.
Suddenly the rails trembled. From behind the turn a small trolley appeared on which sat a man, his wife and a little son. People, not turning around, looked only forward, passing one deserted area after another.
Suddenly, on an even straight road, the motor coughed and fell silent. The man said that gasoline had run out, and, taking a spare canister from the trunk, began to pour fuel. His wife and son looked silently at the sea. Finally the woman said that the sea is beautiful. We decided to make a halt. The man took the binoculars and looked forward. He noticed that the rails ahead were heavily rusty and the track was destroyed. He told his family that they would have to
The boy carried a basket of supplies to the shore. When the man came down, his mother and son were already sitting in front of the spread tablecloth. My father put on a strict suit with a vest, a hat and a tie, as if he hoped to meet someone on the road. The boy asked him if they were alone in the world and whether there were other people on earth once. My father replied that it was only a few months ago, and asked why he kept talking about it all the time. The kid noticed that he was trying to remember that time, but he completely forgot everything. He asked his father about the rest of the people. The man did not know where they had gone. Just once they woke up, and the world was empty.
The night before, he and his wife were sitting on the terrace. The man lit his pipe and said how great it would
The next morning their wish was fulfilled. They woke up and heard only the soft sounds of the earth. Cities drowned in the sea of grass-ant, marigold, daisy, convolvulus. At first, the rest took it calmly, because they had long disliked the city, behind were only imaginary friends and a closed life in seclusion, in a mechanized hive.
The husband got out of bed and said that all had disappeared. The boy was still asleep. After breakfast, the man said that he needed to figure out what to do. The woman was afraid that her husband would not go to work. Then he laughed at the fact that she still did not believe this vacation, the fact that now you do not need to learn, jump out to work early in the morning, meet the boss’s sour look. The man was happy that they were released, and they will never return to this stupid, damned, necessary routine.
The adults walked along the empty silent streets. The man tried to assure his companion that people did not die, but simply left. Then he went into the phone booth and dialed the number of Chicago, then New York, then San Francisco. Everywhere there was silence. The husband said that now they are to no one and do not have to do anything, now they have one duty – to be happy. Whole thirty years of happiness ahead.
The woman thought and said that, probably now they still need to have children. To this, the man shook his head calmly. In his opinion, Jim should be the last. When he grows old and dies, the world must belong to cows, horses, chipmunks and spiders, that is, to all those beings who are fine without a human being. Perhaps one day another kind will appear, able to combine natural curiosity with natural happiness. He will build cities that are completely different from human ones. The adults laid the basket, woke up their son and began their thirty-year vacation.
After the meal, the father took a sledgehammer from the trolley and went alone to fix the rails. The woman and her son ran along the shore. They returned with a handful of wet shells and beautiful pink stones. Mother began to teach the boy, and he wrote down his homework in pencil in a notebook. At noon, my father came down to them, without a jacket and without a tie, and the three of them drank an orange pop.
The man pulled out his pocket satin and told the family that in May they would get to Sacramento, and in July they could visit Washington… The boy became bored and he went to the water itself. When the husband wanted to slam the satin, a drop fell directly on the page. His wife saw that his eyes were suspiciously shining, and a damp strip stretched across his cheek. She gasped, took her husband’s hand and squeezed her hard. He squeezed her hand and said that it would be good to go to bed at night, and at night everything would return to its place: absurdities, noise, din, evil people, stupid children, all hopes, aspirations and love. The woman nodded. And then both shuddered, because between them, holding a bottle from under the pop, was their son.
With his free hand, the boy held his father’s face and said that there was also no one to play with an adult. My mother wanted to say something, and my father tried to take his hand, but the kid jumped back and cried out that they were stupid fools. The boy broke off and ran to the sea. Mother wanted to follow him, but her father kept her.
On the shore, without ceasing to cry, the boy wrote something on a scrap of paper, put it in a bottle, tightened it with an iron cap and threw it into the water. Mother worried about what her son could write. The boy stopped crying. He approached his parents. His face was neither enlightened, nor gloomy, nor alive, nor dead, nor resolute, but some kind of bizarre mixture, as if he had reconciled himself to the times, the elements and these people. The woman wondered if he had written their parents’ dream or something of their own. Maybe he wished for himself alone, and tomorrow he will wake up alone in a deserted world, where there will be no man, no woman, no father, no mother, no stupid adults with their foolish desires. She looked at his eyes for a long time, but she did not dare ask.
It was time to go. Parents put the basket on the platform, the woman tied her hat tighter to her hair with a yellow ribbon. The boy asked the adults if the desire would come true if asked. They replied: depending on what to ask. However, the baby’s thoughts were already far from here. The boy said goodbye to the shore and waved to him.
Drezin rode along the rusty rails. Soon the boy, woman and man disappeared among the hills. The sea was very noisy.
Ray Bradbury is one of the few who has managed to turn science fiction into a real art. In his short story “Vacation” the author touched on many topics important for each person. This is loneliness, and the lack of clearly defined life plans, and the desire for communication, and inability to find a common language with a loved one. Wishing to get rid of humanity once and for all, adults suddenly realized that they were not ready for loneliness, that the vacations turned into a tiring expectation of a miracle – meetings with some person.
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