Ray Bradbury Forums
Please Help...

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19 March 2020, 07:48 AM
Dcoo83
Please Help...
Greetings Earthlings,

I could use some help tracking down a RB short story. I read it years ago and only remember a few details, hoping it'll ring a bell and someone can tell me the title.

The details I remember...Someone went into space, while they were gone, nobody could watch television (can't remember why), when the person returned to Earth, everyone had been productive, things were well taken care of, everything was painted and cleaned.

Ring a bell to anyone? Thanks in advance.
19 March 2020, 07:00 PM
dandelion
The only one remotely like that is "A Miracle of Rare Device" in The Machineries of Joy.
20 March 2020, 08:48 AM
douglasSP
dandelion, I also thought of that one, so it's not just you. But I don't remember anybody going to space in it. Come to think of it, most people would be surprised how few stories Ray Bradbury wrote about people going into space.
20 March 2020, 05:27 PM
dandelion
The two guys didn't go into space, they were out in the desert and came into a town where the TV was knocked out but it's the closest I can think of by Ray or anybody.
21 March 2020, 12:59 AM
douglasSP
I remember now—they decorated the town because there was no TV, I think, so that's almost certainly the story that Dcoo83 is looking for.
22 March 2020, 11:48 AM
Dcoo83
Thanks everyone!

I'll have to give "A Miracle of Rare Device" a read.

The reason I ask is because it seems like people in my neighborhood are spending lots of time in their yards, sprucing things up during quarantine.