Knock (short story)


"Knock", is a science fiction short story by American writer by Fredric Brown. It starts with a short-short story based on the following text of Thomas Bailey Aldrich:
Fredric Brown condensed this text to "a sweet little action story that is only two sentences long". "Knock" then goes on to elaborate on those two sentences and build a more complete plot around them.
It was published in the December 1948 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories. There have been three different radio adaptations. The story was reprinted in

Plot summary

The first two lines are a complete story by themselves:
The Zan have killed off all life on Earth other than pairs of specimens for their zoo of exotic Earth fauna. Walter Phelan is the last man on Earth, but Grace Evans, the last woman, is not overly impressed with him and maintains her distance.
The Zan, who are ageless, become disturbed when, one by one, the other animals begin to die. They turn to Walter for advice. He tells them that the creatures have perished from lack of affection, suggesting that they pet the survivors regularly to keep them alive. He demonstrates with one of them. When the Zan begin to die, they depart the planet in fear. It is then revealed that the creature Walter advised them to pet was a poisonous snake.
Then Walter discusses the future of the human race with Grace. She is shocked by his proposal and leaves. Shortly thereafter, he hears her footsteps returning. The narrative then ends as it began:

Reception

The story won the 2012 Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award; James Nicoll, however, describes it as "fairly conventional".