The Pedestrian (1951)


I go out walkin', after midnight...

It feels unfinished...yet it really is finished.  There is no mystery when it comes to this story by Ray Bradbury.  He sets up the plot and when we're done reading its scant paragraphs, the mind fills in the horror of the rest.

First published in The Reporter in 1951, The Pedestrian was conceived and sprang to life after Bradbury was hassled by LAPD while walking the city streets with a friend.  The story also appeared in Bradbury's anthology, The Golden Apples of the Sun, published in 1953.

Here's the story as it first appeared...