The Small Assasin

Awww! Isn't this baby so cute? Well, in "The Small Assassin" by Ray Bradbury, the baby may be cute, but it is a killer.

The mother was having complications that were threatening her life. She had an emergency surgery, and the baby and his mother lived. The mother was extremely exhausted from her near death experience, and the baby would not sleep through the nights. He cried constantly and wore his mother out so bad that she caught pneumonia. Later, the baby purposely left a toy at the top of the stairs just so the mother would fall to her death.

Now, the baby's next target was his father. He had set the toy out originally to kill his father, but ended up killing his mother. Eventually one night while the father was in a deep sleep the baby turned the gas on and the father died a silent death. The baby had succeeded in his plans.

In my opinion, this was one strange baby. I can't ever recall hearing a true story like this fiction story. I can say that pneumonia is a very tiring and miserable illness.