View source for The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl

{{short description|1948 short story by Ray Bradbury}}
{{No footnotes|date=May 2013}}
{{Infobox short story <!--See [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Novels]]-->
| name         = The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl
| author       = [[Ray Bradbury]]
| country      = [[United States]]
| language     = [[English language|English]]
| image        = [[File:Detective book 1948win.jpg|220px]]
| genre        = [[Crime fiction|Crime]], [[Short story]]
| published_in = ''[[Detective Book Magazine]]''
| publication_type = [[magazine]]
| publisher    =
| media_type   = Print
| pub_date     = November 1948
}}
"'''The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl'''" is a [[short story]] by [[Ray Bradbury]]. It was first published in ''[[Detective Book Magazine]]'' in November 1948 (cover date: Winter) as "Touch and Go".<ref>{{cite web
| last = Content Cillian K and Nicholas L
| title = Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections, Combined Edition
| publisher =
| date =
| url = http://www.locusmag.com/index/s88.htm#A1827
| format =
| doi =
| accessdate = 2007-03-26 }}</ref> The story was re-titled and published as "The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl" in ''[[EQMM]]'' in January 1953.<ref>{{cite web
| title = Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine January 1953 cover photo
| format=jpg
| url = http://www.philsp.com/data/images/e/ellery_queens_mystery_195301.jpg
| access-date = October 24, 2024|archive-date = September 16, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240916090730/http://www.philsp.com/data/images/e/ellery_queens_mystery_195301.jpg }}</ref>
==Plot summary==
Mr. Acton begins the story standing over the body of Mr. Huxley, whom he has just killed. While attempting to cover up his tracks, he has [[Flashback (narrative)|flashback]]s of his encounters with Mr. Huxley, with whom he is having an altercation over a woman. These flashbacks reveal to the murderer that there are more and more of his [[fingerprint]]s all over the man's house, because he thought that he had touched so many different objects. His frenzy to remove all of the evidence distracts him from his actual objective, to get away with the crime. He is eventually caught, after polishing the entire house, while polishing and re-polishing the glass fruit at the bottom of a bowl. He is discovered by the police while dusting the attic. He leaves the room polishing the door handle and slamming it in victory.
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Publication history==
The story was included in several of Bradbury's short story collections:
*''[[The Golden Apples of the Sun]]'', 1953
*''[[The Vintage Bradbury]]'', 1965
*''[[Twice 22]]'', 1966
*A Song Of Thunder and Other Stories, 2005
==Adaptations in other media==
This story was adapted to the [[EC Comics|EC]] [[comic book]] [[Crime Suspenstories|Crime SuspenStories]] #17 (April–May 1953) as "Touch and Go" by [[Johnny Craig]]. ({{cite web |url=http://www.comics.org/issue/10519/#92646 |title=comics.org |accessdate=18 February 2013}}) It was adapted as an episode of the television series ''[[The Ray Bradbury Theater]]'' (January 23, 1988) as "The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl" with [[Michael Ironside]] and [[Robert Vaughn]]. An additional character called bob the spider and pop-up-duck was written down for the comic but never actually used in this short story. It is believed that the creator also thought of bizarre characters such as stambam or nickle bickle. Mr stups was invented for mistake, horror and murder scenes in the comic but never actually published.
==External links==
*{{Isfdb title|id=64803}}
{{Ray Bradbury|state=collapsed}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl, The}}
[[Category:1948 short stories]]
[[Category:Short stories by Ray Bradbury]]
[[Category:Crime short stories]]
[[Category:Works originally published in Detective Book Magazine]]
{{1940s-crime-story-stub}}