Summaries
The Fruitcake Special
Anna, a chemist working for Amos Cosmetics, puts a
piece of fruitcake in a perfume mix as an experiment.
She is surprised when her boss, Mr Amos, takes a
sudden unexpected interest in her and invites her to
dinner. At home, Anna’s mother and Aunt Mimi
question her about when she will find a husband
and tease her about Armstrong, the boy who used
to deliver pizza. Anna ignores them and surprises
them with the news of her date. At the restaurant,
Mr Amos takes little notice of Anna, and even seems
embarrassed that he has asked her out, but things
rapidly change when Anna applies some more of the
new perfume — the fruitcake special. Not only
Mr Amos, but also one of the waiters becomes deeply
attracted to her. In the midst of the ensuing chaos,
Mr Amos’s girlfriend, Sabina, arrives, and shortly after
a fight breaks out. Anna makes a quick exit.
Anna, diplomatically, takes the next day off work and
visits her Aunt Mimi who bought the cake. Her aunt
tells her the woman who made it has died, but this
woman never had problems finding husbands — seven
in total. On returning to work, Anna is summoned
to Mr Amos’s office. Sabina is also there, and is rude
towards Anna. In revenge, Anna pours the remainder
of the fruitcake special over Sabina and walks out of
her job.
Shortly after this, we learn that Anna has a new job at
the factory where they make Intrigue. One day, she is
trying to make fruitcake, when there is a knock at the
door. It is Armstrong, who now owns his own pizza
company. Now that he is successful, he feels he can
ask Anna out and she realises that he is really very
nice.
The Real Aunt Molly
Aunt Molly is a sweet-natured, cheerful woman whose
sole interest in life is her home. After being widowed,
she becomes less cheerful, and concentrates her time
and energy on bringing up her twin sons, Winston and
Clement. The narrator, cousin Rufus, observes the
changes in her. As the twins grow into teenagers, they
become restless with the household routine, and decide
to organise something exciting for their mother’s 39th
birthday: a visit to a television studio to see one of
her favourite shows live. The twins organise a trip to
see Maxwell Marvel, an expert hypnotist. Aunt Molly
goes along with the idea to please her sons.
At the end of the show, Marvel asks for a final
volunteer. The twins propose their mother, and ask
Marvel to make her more decisive and self-confident.
She is hypnotised easily, but no sooner has Maxwell
finished than he collapses on stage. Aunt Molly
confidently organises medical aid. Back home, the
change in Aunt Molly is marked. She develops
a whole range of new interests, reads avidly and
paints. The twins and Rufus find the new Aunt Molly
very different but very likeable. Finally Aunt Molly
announces she is leaving for a holiday in Greece with
a professor. Meanwhile, Grandpa has received a letter
with a tape recording from the now deceased Marvel,
which would undo the hypnotic suggestion. With their
Aunt now departed to Greece, the twins and Rufus are
left with the dilemma — whether to tell Aunt Molly or
not.
Brains
Gina, a research scientist studying for her Ph.D., has
been developing a drug that increases intelligence.
She is summoned to her boss’s office in New York to
report on her findings. She is questioned by
Mr Dimitri about her work with Max the monkey,
who now has the intelligence of an eight-year-old
human. He is curious to learn whether the drug could
be used on humans. Anna admits this is possible, but
she is taken aback when Mr Dimitri orders her to
cease her research in this field. He explains that Gina’s
research findings could be challenged as people might
accuse her of taking the drug. Gina is offered work
and funding in a different field and accepts.
Meanwhile, we learn the real reasons for Mr Dimitri’s
objections to Gina’s research work; a drug that raised
intelligence would be bad for business, since intelligent
customers would be much more discriminating about
what they bought. Unbeknown to Gina, Mr Dimitri
orders that Max the monkey should be killed so as to
destroy the evidence of Gina’s experiment.
The Book of Thoughts
Chester is an eager young executive working for a
corporation in Singapore. Devoted to his career, his
only distraction is the lovely Dorothy, a new recruit to
the business. One evening, he is sorting through some
books outside an antique shop. The shopkeeper tells
him to help himself and he selects an ancient volume
called The Book of Thoughts. At his regular restaurant,
he is served undercooked chicken which he complains
about. The dish is returned, and to Chester’s
astonishment, when he opens the book, the thoughts
of the waiter appear on the blank page. The next
morning, he discovers the book can read the thoughts
of passengers on the train.
Back in the office, Chester discovers via the book,
that an older work colleague has supplied him with
incorrect figures to make him look incompetent at a
presentation the next day. Chester secretly retrieves
the correct figures from among his colleague’s papers.
Later, he phones his brother Kim to ask him out for
a game of squash. Kim makes his excuses, but the
book gives him the real reason — Kim dislikes playing
squash with the ambitious Chester.
The presentation is a great success, but Chester
is dismayed when the book tells him exactly how
unpopular he is in the office. Feeling somewhat
shaken, Chester decides not to consult the book for
a while. Meanwhile he summons the courage to
ask Dorothy out for dinner. But when he looks for
the book to find her opinion of him, the book has
disappeared.
Finders Keepers
Harry Chen, a lecturer in archaeology at a university
in Singapore, is also a thief, who has a private
collection of artefacts he has stolen. He is frustrated
that he cannot afford the choice items on display in
the antique shops. One day, his superior, Professor
Teo, asks Harry to check through a collection of goods
found in a nearby grave. There appears to be little of
interest until Harry accidentally smashes a sealed pot.
Inside is a whistle with the inscription BE STILL. He
decides to pocket it.
Later, on his way home, he blows the whistle. The
effect is to make everything and everyone around him
freeze, as if a film has been stopped. The next day,
Professor Teo says there is something suspicious about
the grave where the whistle came from. That evening,
Harry realises how he can use the whistle — to steal
antiques without fear of detection. His first acquisition
is a valuable jade dragon.
The next day, the Professor has ominous news about
the grave. The deceased was a man with an evil
reputation, a priest who was cast out by his peers.
Harry blows the whistle behind the Professor’s back,
and observes the same effect as before — all motion
stops. When the whistle is blown again, the Professor
continues as if nothing has happened. Harry realises
he has control over time itself.
Later, Harry decides to do some serious thieving, but
he blows the whistle at the same time as a camera flash
goes off. The blinding light is suspended in time. In
his confusion, Harry drops the whistle and crushes it
under his foot. He is helpless — trapped in time, with
no past or future.