Beyond the Door

Did you ever wonder at the lonely life the bird in a cuckoo clock has to lead—that it might possibly love and hate just as easily as a real animal of flesh and blood? Philip Dick used that idea for this brief fantasy tale. We're sure that after reading it you'll give cuckoo clocks more respect.
Larry Thomas bought a cuckoo clock for his wife—without knowing the price he would have to pay.
That night at the dinner table he brought it out and set it down beside her plate. Doris stared at it, her hand to her mouth. My God, what is it? She looked up at him, bright-eyed.
Well, open it.
Doris tore the ribbon and paper from the square package with her sharp nails, her bosom rising and falling. Larry stood watching her as she lifted the lid. He lit a cigarette and leaned against the wall.
A cuckoo clock! Doris cried. A real old cuckoo clock like my mother had. She turned the clock over and over. Just like my mother had, when Pete was still alive. Her eyes sparkled with tears.
It's made in Germany, Larry said. After a moment he added, Carl got it for me wholesale. He knows some guy in the clock business. Otherwise I wouldn't have— He stopped.
Doris made a funny little sound.
I mean, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to afford it. He scowled. What's the matter with you? You've got your clock, haven't you? Isn't that what you want?
Doris sat holding onto the clock, her fingers pressed against the brown wood.
Well, Larry said, what's the matter?
He watched in amazement as she leaped up and ran from the room, still clutching the clock. He shook his head. Never satisfied. They're all that way. Never get enough.