Shownotes
I'm doing a little survey to find out more about ALE listeners. There are just four tiny questions. It will only take a minute or two, and will help me a LOT! Please check it out. Thanks, Cooper
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Season 2 Episode 4Thank you for downloading this episode.
👉The story begins at 01:44 and the tiny lessons begin at 16:22
👉You can find the transcript after the Credits!
👉Visit our website to download the Podcast User's Manual and find out more! https://alittleenglish.com/
A Little English is written, produced, recorded, edited, mixed, mastered and scored by Edward Cooper Howland.
All stories are either in the public domain, or written by me.
Copyright 2024 Edward Cooper Howland
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TRANSCRIPT:
Hi. My name is Cooper, and this is…A Little English. Every episode, I read a short story. After the story, there are three tiny lessons.
Tonight we are finally finishing The Hanging Stranger by Philip K Dick. I promise, by the end of the story you will have the answer to the big question: is Ed losing his mind? Or has his town been invaded by bug monsters from another dimension? Either way, it’s not great for Ed. Last episode he murdered a bug monster pretending to be his son. Or….he murdered his son because he thought it was a bug monster. Then he ran ten miles to the next town to try and find someone to help. I wonder how it’s gonna go for ol’ Ed. Let’s find out…
A farmer in a field gaped at him. From a house a young woman watched in wonder. Loyce reached the road and turned onto it. Ahead of him was a gasoline station and a drive-in. A couple of trucks, some chickens pecking in the dirt, a dog tied with a string.
The white-clad attendant watched suspiciously as he dragged himself up to the station. "Thank God." He caught hold of the wall. "I didn't think I was going to make it. They followed me most of the way. I could hear them buzzing. Buzzing and flitting around behind me."
"What happened?" the attendant demanded. "You in a wreck? A hold-up?"
Loyce shook his head wearily. "They have the whole town. The City Hall and the police station. They hung a man from the lamppost. That was the first thing I saw. They've got all the roads blocked. I saw them hovering over the cars coming in. About four this morning I got beyond them. I knew it right away. I could feel them leave. And then the sun came up."
The attendant licked his lip nervously. "You're out of your head. I better get a doctor."
"Get me into Oak Grove," Loyce gasped. He sank down on the gravel. "We've got to get started—cleaning them out. Got to get started right away."
They kept a tape recorder going all the time he talked. When he had finished the Commissioner snapped off the recorder and got to his feet. He stood for a moment, deep in thought. Finally he got out his cigarettes and lit up slowly, a frown on his beefy face.
"You don't believe me," Loyce said.
The Commissioner offered him a cigarette. Loyce pushed it impatiently away. "Suit yourself." The Commissioner moved over to the window and stood for a time looking out at the town of Oak Grove. "I believe you," he said abruptly.
Loyce sagged. "Thank God."
"So you got away." The Commissioner shook his head. "You were down in your cellar instead of at work. A freak chance. One in a million."
Loyce sipped some of the black coffee they had brought him. "I have a theory," he murmured.
"What is it?"
"About them. Who they are. They take over one area at a time. Starting at the top—the highest level of authority. Working down from there in a widening circle. When they're firmly in control they go on to the next town. They spread, slowly, very gradually. I think it's been going on for a long time."
"A long time?"
"Thousands of years. I don't think it's new."
"Why do you say that?"
"When I was a kid.... A picture they showed us in Bible League. A religious picture—an old print. The enemy gods, defeated by Jehovah. Moloch, Beelzebub, Moab, Baalin, Ashtaroth—"
"So?"
"They were all represented by figures." Loyce looked up at the Commissioner. "Beelzebub was represented as—a giant fly."
The Commissioner grunted. "An old struggle."
"They've been defeated. The Bible is an account of their defeats. They make gains—but finally they're defeated."
"Why defeated?"
"They can't get everyone. They didn't get me. And they never got the Hebrews. The Hebrews carried the message to the whole world. The realization of the danger. The two men on the bus. I think they understood. Had escaped, like I did." He clenched his fists. "I killed one of them. I made a mistake. I was afraid to take a chance."
The Commissioner nodded. "Yes, they undoubtedly had escaped, as you did. Freak accidents. But the rest of the town was firmly in control." He turned from the window. "Well, Mr. Loyce. You seem to have figured everything out."
"Not everything. The hanging man. The dead man hanging from the lamppost. I don't understand that. Why? Why did they deliberately hang him there?"
"That would seem simple." The Commissioner smiled faintly. "Bait."
Loyce stiffened. His heart stopped beating. "Bait? What do you mean?"
"To draw you out. Make you declare yourself. So they'd know who was under control—and who had escaped."
Loyce recoiled with horror. "Then they expected failures! They anticipated—" He broke off. "They were ready with a trap."
"And you showed yourself. You reacted. You made yourself known." The Commissioner abruptly moved toward the door. "Come along, Loyce. There's a lot to do. We must get moving. There's no time to waste."
Loyce started slowly to his feet, numbed. "And the man. Who was the man? I never saw him before. He wasn't a local man. He was a stranger. All muddy and dirty, his face cut, slashed—"
There was a strange look on the Commissioner's face as he answered. "Maybe," he said softly, "you'll understand that, too. Come along with me, Mr. Loyce." He held the door open, his eyes gleaming. Loyce caught a glimpse of the street in front of the police station. Policemen, a platform of some sort. A telephone pole—and a rope! "Right this way," the Commissioner said, smiling coldly.
As the sun set, the vice-president of the Oak Grove Merchants' Bank came up out of the vault, threw the heavy time locks, put on his hat and coat, and hurried outside onto the sidewalk. Only a few people were there, hurrying home to dinner.
"Good night," the guard said, locking the door after him.
"Good night," Clarence Mason murmured. He started along the street toward his car. He was tired. He had been working all day down in the vault, examining the lay-out of the safety deposit boxes to see if there was room for another tier. He was glad to be finished.
At the corner he halted. The street lights had not yet come on. The street was dim. Everything was vague. He looked around—and froze.
From the telephone pole in front of the police station, something large and shapeless hung. It moved a little with the wind.
What the hell was it?
Mason approached it warily. He wanted to get home. He was tired and hungry. He thought of his wife, his kids, a hot meal on the dinner table. But there was something about the dark bundle, something ominous and ugly. The light was bad; he couldn't tell what it was. Yet it drew him on, made him move closer for a better look. The shapeless thing made him uneasy. He was frightened by it. Frightened—and fascinated.
And the strange part was that nobody else seemed to notice it.
Oooooh man! So….that’s the end! Did you guess right? Did it scare you? It scared me the first time I read it.
There is one thing I wanna talk about. The story gets very Biblical at the end. It talks about Beelzebub and demons and stuff, and it also mentions….the Hebrews. So, that word is kind of a problem. There is a language, Hebrew, which people speak in Israel today. And that word is used in the bible to refer to early Jewish people thousands of years ago. But these days, it is super not-OK to call Jewish people “Hebrews” in English. This story is 60 years old, and things were different back then, but today….not OK.
Anyway, I talked to my university students and I asked them, do you want to have a scary story next, or a fun one. They said they want horror! So, OK. More horror! We are gonna do two very short stories next, then maybe a longer one. All by Philip K Dick! I hope you enjoy.
Let’s have some lessons.
So the Big Picture is pretty clear to see.
Was Ed crazy? Or was his town invaded by bug people? How do you know? Maybe pause and think about it for a minute.
Yeah, the bug people were real. And how do we know? Because they caught him in the next town and hung HIM from the lamppost, as bait to draw out anyone else who escaped their mind control. Ed became the hanging stranger. Poor Ed.
Still feel like dancing at the Dictionary Disco?I’ve got two good words for you from the end of this part.
The first one is “Vague.” It means uncertain, or unclear. Like when you ask your teenager where they were, and they say, “oh, you know. Around.” Very vague.
The second one is “ominous,” as in “something ominous and ugly.” It means something that gives you the feeling that something horrible is going to happen. Like, this whole story is pretty ominous.
And maybe a Melody Moment?
Are you tired of hearing about voicing yet> Let me share one that kind of blew my mind when I figured it out. F and V make almost the same sound. The only difference between FFFFF and VVVVVV is voicing. Maybe that’s not such a surprise for you, but it was pretty big for me. I always thought of them as totally different sounds, but they’re really not. Here try this:Say FAN. Then say VAN. Now say LEAF and LEAVE. Pay attention to the positions of your lips, teeth, jaw and tongue. They’re exactly the same. The only difference is the vibration in your throat. Wild.
Let’s do the credits!
Thank you for listening to Season 2 Episode 4 of A Little English.
Every episode is produced entirely by me, Edward Cooper Howland, here in Hiroshima, Japan.
If you like the show, tell someone about it! A recommendation from a friend is the best way to get someone to listen, and I would really appreciate it.
The stories I read are in the public domain, and I get them from standardebooks.org, which is a really good website and you should check it out.
Again, thank you so much for listening.
For now, be kind to yourselves, and to each other.
Mentioned in this episode:
Transcripts
Hi. My name is Cooper, and this is…A Little English. Every episode, I read a short story. After the story, there are three tiny lessons.
Tonight we are finally finishing The Hanging Stranger by Philip K Dick. I promise, by the end of the story you will have the answer to the big question: is Ed losing his mind? Or has his town been invaded by bug monsters from another dimension? Either way, it’s not great for Ed. Last episode he murdered a bug monster pretending to be his son. Or….he murdered his son because he thought it was a bug monster. Then he ran ten miles to the next town to try and find someone to help. I wonder how it’s gonna go for ol’ Ed. Let’s find out…
A farmer in a field gaped at him. From a house a young woman watched in wonder. Loyce reached the road and turned onto it. Ahead of him was a gasoline station and a drive-in. A couple of trucks, some chickens pecking in the dirt, a dog tied with a string.
The white-clad attendant watched suspiciously as he dragged himself up to the station. "Thank God." He caught hold of the wall. "I didn't think I was going to make it. They followed me most of the way. I could hear them buzzing. Buzzing and flitting around behind me."
"What happened?" the attendant demanded. "You in a wreck? A hold-up?"
Loyce shook his head wearily. "They have the whole town. The City Hall and the police station. They hung a man from the lamppost. That was the first thing I saw. They've got all the roads blocked. I saw them hovering over the cars coming in. About four this morning I got beyond them. I knew it right away. I could feel them leave. And then the sun came up."
The attendant licked his lip nervously. "You're out of your head. I better get a doctor."
"Get me into Oak Grove," Loyce gasped. He sank down on the gravel. "We've got to get started—cleaning them out. Got to get started right away."
They kept a tape recorder going all the time he talked. When he had finished the Commissioner snapped off the recorder and got to his feet. He stood for a moment, deep in thought. Finally he got out his cigarettes and lit up slowly, a frown on his beefy face.
"You don't believe me," Loyce said.
The Commissioner offered him a cigarette. Loyce pushed it impatiently away. "Suit yourself." The Commissioner moved over to the window and stood for a time looking out at the town of Oak Grove. "I believe you," he said abruptly.
Loyce sagged. "Thank God."
"So you got away." The Commissioner shook his head. "You were down in your cellar instead of at work. A freak chance. One in a million."
Loyce sipped some of the black coffee they had brought him. "I have a theory," he murmured.
"What is it?"
"About them. Who they are. They take over one area at a time. Starting at the top—the highest level of authority. Working down from there in a widening circle. When they're firmly in control they go on to the next town. They spread, slowly, very gradually. I think it's been going on for a long time."
"A long time?"
"Thousands of years. I don't think it's new."
"Why do you say that?"
"When I was a kid.... A picture they showed us in Bible League. A religious picture—an old print. The enemy gods, defeated by Jehovah. Moloch, Beelzebub, Moab, Baalin, Ashtaroth—"
"So?"
"They were all represented by figures." Loyce looked up at the Commissioner. "Beelzebub was represented as—a giant fly."
The Commissioner grunted. "An old struggle."
"They've been defeated. The Bible is an account of their defeats. They make gains—but finally they're defeated."
"Why defeated?"
"They can't get everyone. They didn't get me. And they never got the Hebrews. The Hebrews carried the message to the whole world. The realization of the danger. The two men on the bus. I think they understood. Had escaped, like I did." He clenched his fists. "I killed one of them. I made a mistake. I was afraid to take a chance."
The Commissioner nodded. "Yes, they undoubtedly had escaped, as you did. Freak accidents. But the rest of the town was firmly in control." He turned from the window. "Well, Mr. Loyce. You seem to have figured everything out."
"Not everything. The hanging man. The dead man hanging from the lamppost. I don't understand that. Why? Why did they deliberately hang him there?"
"That would seem simple." The Commissioner smiled faintly. "Bait."
Loyce stiffened. His heart stopped beating. "Bait? What do you mean?"
"To draw you out. Make you declare yourself. So they'd know who was under control—and who had escaped."
Loyce recoiled with horror. "Then they expected failures! They anticipated—" He broke off. "They were ready with a trap."
"And you showed yourself. You reacted. You made yourself known." The Commissioner abruptly moved toward the door. "Come along, Loyce. There's a lot to do. We must get moving. There's no time to waste."
Loyce started slowly to his feet, numbed. "And the man. Who was the man? I never saw him before. He wasn't a local man. He was a stranger. All muddy and dirty, his face cut, slashed—"
There was a strange look on the Commissioner's face as he answered. "Maybe," he said softly, "you'll understand that, too. Come along with me, Mr. Loyce." He held the door open, his eyes gleaming. Loyce caught a glimpse of the street in front of the police station. Policemen, a platform of some sort. A telephone pole—and a rope! "Right this way," the Commissioner said, smiling coldly.
As the sun set, the vice-president of the Oak Grove Merchants' Bank came up out of the vault, threw the heavy time locks, put on his hat and coat, and hurried outside onto the sidewalk. Only a few people were there, hurrying home to dinner.
"Good night," the guard said, locking the door after him.
"Good night," Clarence Mason murmured. He started along the street toward his car. He was tired. He had been working all day down in the vault, examining the lay-out of the safety deposit boxes to see if there was room for another tier. He was glad to be finished.
At the corner he halted. The street lights had not yet come on. The street was dim. Everything was vague. He looked around—and froze.
From the telephone pole in front of the police station, something large and shapeless hung. It moved a little with the wind.
What the hell was it?
Mason approached it warily. He wanted to get home. He was tired and hungry. He thought of his wife, his kids, a hot meal on the dinner table. But there was something about the dark bundle, something ominous and ugly. The light was bad; he couldn't tell what it was. Yet it drew him on, made him move closer for a better look. The shapeless thing made him uneasy. He was frightened by it. Frightened—and fascinated.
And the strange part was that nobody else seemed to notice it.
Oooooh man! So….that’s the end! Did you guess right? Did it scare you? It scared me the first time I read it.
There is one thing I wanna talk about. The story gets very Biblical at the end. It talks about Beelzebub and demons and stuff, and it also mentions….the Hebrews. So, that word is kind of a problem. There is a language, Hebrew, which people speak in Israel today. And that word is used in the bible to refer to early Jewish people thousands of years ago. But these days, it is super not-OK to call Jewish people “Hebrews” in English. This story is 60 years old, and things were different back then, but today….not OK.
Anyway, I talked to my university students and I asked them, do you want to have a scary story next, or a fun one. They said they want horror! So, OK. More horror! We are gonna do two very short stories next, then maybe a longer one. All by Philip K Dick! I hope you enjoy.
Let’s have some lessons.
So the Big Picture is pretty clear to see.
Was Ed crazy? Or was his town invaded by bug people? How do you know? Maybe pause and think about it for a minute.
Yeah, the bug people were real. And how do we know? Because they caught him in the next town and hung HIM from the lamppost, as bait to draw out anyone else who escaped their mind control. Ed became the hanging stranger. Poor Ed.
Still feel like dancing at the Dictionary Disco?I’ve got two good words for you from the end of this part.
The first one is “Vague.” It means uncertain, or unclear. Like when you ask your teenager where they were, and they say, “oh, you know. Around.” Very vague.
The second one is “ominous,” as in “something ominous and ugly.” It means something that gives you the feeling that something horrible is going to happen. Like, this whole story is pretty ominous.
And maybe a Melody Moment?
Are you tired of hearing about voicing yet> Let me share one that kind of blew my mind when I figured it out. F and V make almost the same sound. The only difference between FFFFF and VVVVVV is voicing. Maybe that’s not such a surprise for you, but it was pretty big for me. I always thought of them as totally different sounds, but they’re really not. Here try this:Say FAN. Then say VAN. Now say LEAF and LEAVE. Pay attention to the positions of your lips, teeth, jaw and tongue. They’re exactly the same. The only difference is the vibration in your throat. Wild.
Let’s do the credits!
Thank you for listening to Season 2 Episode 4 of A Little English.
Every episode is produced entirely by me, Edward Cooper Howland, here in Hiroshima, Japan.
If you like the show, tell someone about it! A recommendation from a friend is the best way to get someone to listen, and I would really appreciate it.
The stories I read are in the public domain, and I get them from standardebooks.org, which is a really good website and you should check it out.
Again, thank you so much for listening.
For now, be kind to yourselves, and to each other.
