Out on a limb
May 12, 2010 7:29 PM
Trying to track down a kid's sci-fi short story about a girl whose neighbour was an alien who could detach and 'fix' body parts.
Time for another name-that-sci-fi-short-story. I promise it's not All Summer in a Day.
I read this short story in an anthology from my primary school library, definitely in the 80s, with a very generic title ("Sci-Fi 5" or something like it).
In the story a girl with several physical problems (bad leg, big glasses, crooked yellow teeth) befriends a strange girl (I think it was a girl) next door. The neighbour is able to detach body parts and fix them - removing her teeth and cleaning them, taking out her eyes, separating her leg to straighten it, etc. The parents at first don't notice, and then come across the kids 'playing', with the girl lying there alive and conscious but literally in pieces. The alien runs off, and sneaks back later to put the girl back together again... and that's all I remember.
Time for another name-that-sci-fi-short-story. I promise it's not All Summer in a Day.
I read this short story in an anthology from my primary school library, definitely in the 80s, with a very generic title ("Sci-Fi 5" or something like it).
In the story a girl with several physical problems (bad leg, big glasses, crooked yellow teeth) befriends a strange girl (I think it was a girl) next door. The neighbour is able to detach body parts and fix them - removing her teeth and cleaning them, taking out her eyes, separating her leg to straighten it, etc. The parents at first don't notice, and then come across the kids 'playing', with the girl lying there alive and conscious but literally in pieces. The alien runs off, and sneaks back later to put the girl back together again... and that's all I remember.
That's it! Brilliant, thank you. Don't see any other mentions of the story here - perhaps you're thinking of this thread? And hey, in this version the girl doesn't get put back together again, so I'm either misremembering or they changed it for that printing. Scared the crap out of me as a kid.
posted by Paragon at 7:55 PM on May 12, 2010
posted by Paragon at 7:55 PM on May 12, 2010
Here's the old thread cobwebberies is thinking of. I remember reading it then too.
posted by Partial Law at 8:17 PM on May 12, 2010
posted by Partial Law at 8:17 PM on May 12, 2010
Huh, weird, it doesn't seem to show up on the Google site search. Thanks again, all.
posted by Paragon at 8:27 PM on May 12, 2010
posted by Paragon at 8:27 PM on May 12, 2010
Excellent! I couldn't find that thread through Google either. Memories restored all around!
posted by cobwebberies at 12:21 AM on May 13, 2010
posted by cobwebberies at 12:21 AM on May 13, 2010
Haha, nice, I answered the original thread and just saw this one. Glad you found it!
posted by oulipian at 7:07 PM on May 14, 2010
posted by oulipian at 7:07 PM on May 14, 2010
« Older Unexpected and unwanted parent's sudden appearance | What was the name of this damn book? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by cobwebberies at 7:43 PM on May 12, 2010