Story at a glance
- A.D. 2053, a misty November evening; Leonard Mead, a writer, walks every night for ten years — never meets another walker.
- At an intersection, looks down moonlit avenues; direction makes no difference — he is alone.
- Dark houses with grey TV glow — like walking through a graveyard; people like the dead; he whispers about the channels.
- Alone like the shadow of a hawk in mid-country; roads as empty as the centre of an Arizona desert, no house in a thousand miles.
- Sneakers, not hard heels — hard heels made dogs bark and lights come on.
- A lone police car turns the corner; headlights; Mead spellbound, like a moth.
- The only police car in a city of three million — crime has almost gone.
- Metallic voice: name; profession — writer = "no profession"; walking — for air, to see; air conditioner — yes; viewing screen — no (long silence); married — no, nobody wanted him.
- No driver; back seat like a small black cell.
- To the Psychiatric Center for Research on Regressive Tendencies — for walking without a purpose.
- They pass Mead's house, the only one brightly lit; "That's my house"; no reply.
Common traps
| Trap | Correct idea |
|---|---|
| The story is utopian | It is dystopian (2025 specimen). |
| Similarity to today: low crime rate | Isolation and alienation (2027 specimen). |
| Mead wore hard-heeled shoes to be heard | He wore sneakers to be unobserved. |
| Two officers arrested him | The car was empty — run by machines. |
| He was arrested for theft | For walking without a purpose. |
| Mead owned a viewing screen | He had none — the most suspicious fact. |