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| In Bed One Night ： ウィキペディア英語版 |
In Bed One Night
The literary work, "In Bed One Night", by Robert Coover was originally published in 1983 by Burning Deck Press. Later, in 2014, it was re-published by Dzanc Books in "In Bed One Night and Other Brief Encounters". Similarly to Coover's other work, this short story holds dark undertones and is written with a cryptic message.
The story tells the tale of a man who suddenly finds his bed overcrowded by a variety of people because of a mixup at the Social Security Office. Coover suggests that there is a link between social and ethnic background and the level of treatment one receives. Coover subtly questions whether or not the Social Security program is reliable and stable. Intentionally, Coover chose characters from all different walks of life to illustrate his message.
== Plot ==
This is a postmodern story that challenges the formal conventions of punctuation and storytelling. The action in the story is fast-paced and provides the reader with few signals for plot progression, changes in points of view, and character dialogue. The story opens with a man in his bedroom winding down at the end of his day and getting ready for bed. When he lies down, his arm brushes against someone else. He looks over and sees a pale white-haired lady. He notices a lisp from the lady’s speech as she started speaking to him. The elderly woman tells him that all five of them were assigned to be in one bed by Social Security. She explained to him that, with the current situation, no one can afford a private beds anymore because they are now luxury items. She advises the bed owner not to kick at night because her ailing brother Albert, who wears a cloth cap and long underwear of which one pant-leg is empty and pinned up to the rear flap, is sleeping at the foot of the bed. She believes that Albert is lucky because he has his own bed in which he can sleep. The owner of the bed is surprised that Social Security has assigned that many folks. At the same time, the owner of the bed sees an Asian man whose work seems to be washing dishes. At this point, another man named Duke, who appears to be a heavy-bellied worker, shows up with a woman of similar stature. They look like they were drunk. Duke and the woman crash onto the bed, hit the night-table, and knock the dentures into the air; and, as a result, the elderly woman goes and chases after them. Duke forces his companion to have sexual relations with him while everyone is still on the bed. She argues with him at first; but she, then, becomes overpowered. Albert gets mad that Duke has a girl to himself. Duke gets so wrapped up in his sexual activity that he ends up kicking Albert in the face causing him to fall off the bed. The old lady tells her brother to get back on the bed while ordering Duke to kill the Asian person. Duke suddenly cries because he is thinking about the days of the past. Albert, then, crawled back onto the bed from the foot of the bed, and the pin that was used to hold up this empty pant-leg is now between his teeth. As the Asian person—who is holding a knife—crouches tremulously on the pillow by the headboard, the old lady tells Duke to forget about killing the Asian person because she now wants no violence. Duke feels some intense pain and manages to wipe his tears away. A mother suddenly enters with three runny-nosed kids and begs to stay overnight because she and her kids are all tired. Duke tells her to stay and rest because tomorrow she will need to go to the social security office to request a new bed assignment. Duke starts to fade away wondering if he remembered the light in the bathroom and the cap on the toothpaste. At the same time, the old lady, with a lisp, suddenly shouts out in fear asking whether Albert has swallowed the pin.
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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