another research request

[mckitterick]

Thanks to the Center's website, I get lots of mail, much of it seeking information. Once in a while, someone's doing research but can't find what they're looking for. Earlier this month, I posted here with such a request, and (The last fella said, "Wonderful. Please convey my thanks to the fabulous Emily."). Thanks again to eleanor for identifying the last show.

So, enough ado, here's the new one; sounds fascinating:

I am trying to find a short science fiction story that I read as a child. I'm afraid I can't remember it's title, or the author... It basically involves a man whose wife has given birth to a child and when he visits her, he is horrified to find that his 'son' is actually a pyramid, with tentacles instead of arms. The doctors christen the child 'Pi' and work out that it must have slipped into our realm from another dimension.

In a nutshell, in order to live together as a family, the husband and wife agree to be transported to Pi's dimension, where they will all appear as normal human beings to each other, although in reality they will take on forms like Pi's.

EDIT: It's "Tomorrow's Child" by Ray Bradbury, which can be found in his I Sing The Body Electric collection. Many thanks to squirrel_monkey

Best,
Chris

Comments

[eleanor.livejournal.com]

It's an Asimov story, I'm almost certain. I can't tell you the name, not because it's a state secret, but because I read it when I was 12, and well, that was some time ago.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Wow, you have an amazing memory! I read Asimov's when I was a kid, too, but doubt I could identify a story that quickly. Must have really plucked a chord for you.

[eleanor.livejournal.com]

I do have a scary memory for some details, but the reason I remember that story is because one of my best friends, a kid named Robert Leighton, read it aloud in English class as an example of something or other. I thought is was very cool that he picked a science fiction story, since we were the only kids in the class who liked the stuff.

[blzblack.livejournal.com]

She may mean Isaac Asimov--not the magazine--however, that doesn't sound like a typical Isaac Asimov's story plot, so maybe she does mean the magazine.

[squirrel-monkey.livejournal.com]

"Tomorrow's Child" by Ray Bradbury, can be found in his I Sing The Body Electric collection.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Cool, thanks! I have to look that up... I have that collection but haven't read it in many years (er, decades; I'm getting old).

[adammaker.livejournal.com]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Sing_the_Body_Electric_(Bradbury)

the story also covers the confusion the platonic solid people must have felt at having a human child. (as I recall)

[sdemory.livejournal.com]

Hell. It's something Bradbury... I'll check through my books when I get home.

[sdemory.livejournal.com]

... or I'll just let these whippersnappers with their fancy-pants Internets track it down.