Stories 51 - 60 Summary

In "The Happiness Machine" Leo Auffmann invents a happiness machine. The machine is large and bright orange. It displays images of distant places such as Paris and emits pleasant smells and vibrations. Auffmann's wife thinks the machine is horrible even though many people use it. Eventually Auffmann's wife tells him that the machine yields only false happiness; true happiness lies in reality. Auffmann vacillates but when the machine catches fire and burns up he finally realizes that his wife and family offer him the only true happiness. In "Calling Mexico" the aged and ill Colonel Freeleigh is bedridden somewhere in the United States. He reconnects with his joyful past by calling old friends in Mexico and having them put their telephone receivers outside their window—Freeleigh relives his past through the sounds of the distant town. The nurses object that...