Alfred Hitchcock story?
January 22, 2006 2:12 PM 
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Identify this story about an unhappy man, an exclusive travel agency, and a magical transporting barn. Possibly from an old Alfred Hitchcock magazine.
Posting for a relative. Here's what she remembers:
The story was about an unhappy man (I think it was a man.) He had a dreary life and job. He heard about a travel agency that offered "special" vacations. He went to the agency and they asked him questions. After he answered them and they determined they would accept him, they told him to leave all his money on the counter. (He had to decide to leave his life behind right at that moment.) They transported him (I think in a bus) with other people to a large barn in the country. No one talked to one another on the bus or in the barn. They all sat on benches around the barn and they waited and waited.
Finally the man decided they had all been taken for suckers and he got up and yelled at all the other people--the gist was: Don't you see we've all been tricked? They all sat there and I think they ignored him.
He ran out of the barn.
As the barn door was almost completely closed, he turned around and looked. He saw a brief glimpse of the most beautiful landscape he had ever seen. (I assume it was another planet.) The people were all dancing and happy. He noticed the air smelled incredibly sweet.
He tried to get back into the barn. It took him a few minutes. By the time he got the door open, it was an empty barn. All the people were gone. The barn was as it had been before, with empty benches around the walls.
He returned to the travel agency to beg for another chance. The woman at the desk looked at him and said "You left your money on the counter last time you were here. I cannot imagine why."
He had his one chance and he lost it.
I would very much like to find this story.
Thank you.
posted by cribcage to writing & language (7 comments total)
posted by dual_action at 2:56 PM on January 22, 2006