Notes on and Summary of Shirley Jackson’s Stories
From the collection “Just an Ordinary Day”:
1) The Smoking Room
Summary: A uni student is working on something in her hall’s smoking room at 3 am
when she notices a handsome guy with hooves and horns in the same room. She
warns him that no guy is allowed here. He acts very meekly for a lord of evil. Then he
asks if she wants to sign this contract to hand her soul over to him. She says it’s not
legally binding and makes a new, legally binding contract. They need a witness so she
drags her roommate from her bed. Surprisingly, the devil doesn’t know how to read so
he just follows wherever she tells him to sign. She makes her demands like getting
good grades and a date, then her roommate also says she wants a date as well as
CASH MONEY. She hands him a $1 bill and says that’s his payment. He asks why
she pays him, then she explains that the document he just signed says that he’s the one
who’s giving his soul to her, not vice versa. He fumes and literally spits out fire. The
supervisor, who she says is more terrifying than the devil himself, comes in to see
what all the ruckus is about. He gets scolded and vanishes weakly. Then the
supervisor leaves.
The only character named here is Bobbie, the roommate. And obviously the devil.
2) I Don’t Kiss Strangers
Summary: A guy is at a party and he wants to talk to this girl one last time before he
leaves. She finally drags him into the bathroom as a compromise because he wanted to
go outside but she wanted to stay close to the booze. Turns out he’s being drafted and
they won’t see each other for a year. So she explains that she’s being indifferent
towards him because she can’t really love him the same way, she’ll be the woman
waiting for a soldier, and everything will be different. He retorts that he’s the one
doing all the hard work in the field. But she ends it with “I don’t kiss strangers. You
ought to know that by now.”
“You’re not just the guy I love anymore. You’re the guy I love who’s been drafted.
And all I get out of it is this few minutes saying goodbye to you. When you go away I
won’t have anything at all except what you leave me.”
One of the reasons, I think, that she’s acting this way is because she’s scared of his
change because she probably knows what being drafted does to people. Or maybe she
just doesn’t want to be so dependent on him, always waiting on him, it’ll be tiring. Or
maybe she just hates him now and wants to get rid of him. But she says she still loves
him, so she probably just fears change.
3) Summer Afternoon
Summary: Jeannie & Carrie play with dolls named Rosabelle & Amelia. After a while
they get bored and goes to this house where they shout to Tippie to come out and
maybe just wave to them but no one appears. Her toys and dolls are still there on the
windowsill. When Jeannie tells her mum about Tippie, she says that’s where the
Archers live and their only daughter died and she herself helped them pack away
everything. Then Carrie comes over to bring her doll back home. They plan to have
lunch together the next day. They say goodbye to each other and refer to each other by
their dolls’ names.
4) Indians Live in Tents
, Summary: a funny story told entirely in letters. Allan Burlingame wants to live in
Marian Griswold’s room because her friends (the Tuttles) found a new place. He wants
to move her furniture to her new place as soon as possible but she’s having to hide the
fact that she’s living in their apartment because they’re not legally allowed to sublet it.
Mr. Shax informs her of this, and she tells him it’s horrible that he’d allow such
injustice to befall on someone like this because everyone deserves shelter, even
Indians live in tents and dogs live in kennels and she’s living here. She plans to hold
out there so she tells Allan to bring over her furniture. Allan sends a letter to Bill who
tells Timmy to bring him over his furniture who asks his mum to bring over his own
furniture. Mr. Shax relents, but the Tuttles can’t move into their new place because of
their baby. So the chain of letters sets off again, beginning with Marian telling Allan to
keep her furniture in her old place all the way to Timmy’s mum. So Allan resorts to
proposing to his girlfriend Felicia by letter so they could live in her parents’ house.
Then, surprise surprise, the Tuttles found another place perfect for them. Felicia
accepts his proposal and tells him about her family’s lavish mansion they could live in
now.
5) The Very Hot Sun in Bermuda
Summary: Katie Collins walks hurriedly to a building next to a brook while musing
about her tan and her bikini. She meets up with Peter, who’s painting a long & black-
haired girl in moonlight. Besides him are the same type of painting with the girl in
various different poses. They’re having an affair and the wife knows it. She says that
after a few weeks, when Katie has graduated, they’ll never see each other again. The
paintings are for Katie so she could pass her course. He’s clearly distressed but she
doesn’t really care and as soon as she leaves (not caring that he wants her to stay), she
thinks about wearing a red swimsuit.
6) Nightmare
Summary: Miss Morgan is an impeccably professional and meticulous woman who
works in an office for a Mr. Lang. He asks her to deliver a package. When she goes
outside, there’s adverts everywhere for this sort-of game where people need to find a
Miss X in order to win all the prizes imaginable to a human being. The truck
bombarding people with announcements of what Miss X looks like keeps following
Miss Morgan around, describing her exact appearance, including the package she’s
carrying. She’s annoyed, and then scared that she might get sued because she’s dressed
exactly the same way they’re describing Miss X, she changes her clothes a bit but then
the description changes to match her exact outfit. She gets a taxi to go downtown to
deliver the package and goes into a hat shop where she gets a hat box and gets
persuaded to buy a hat by this peculiar old lady who’s had this shop for 17 years now.
She goes through a parade whose floats are very much centred around Miss X.
Desperately, she rings Mr. Lang but keeps getting told that he’s busy on another call.
She goes into a quiet street with no one there, escaping the Miss X shenanigan
temporarily, then goes into a shoe repair shop. At that point she gets recognised and
gets told by the guy who guesses that she’s Miss X to get into a car. She goes to a hotel
and falls asleep, with him saying that this city’s no good because no one recognised
her, they might get luckier in Chicago tomorrow.
7) Dinner for a Gentleman
Summary: Dimity Baxter is planning a dinner for Hugh Talley, a colleague of hers,
who’s handsome but looks down on women because he can apparently cook better
From the collection “Just an Ordinary Day”:
1) The Smoking Room
Summary: A uni student is working on something in her hall’s smoking room at 3 am
when she notices a handsome guy with hooves and horns in the same room. She
warns him that no guy is allowed here. He acts very meekly for a lord of evil. Then he
asks if she wants to sign this contract to hand her soul over to him. She says it’s not
legally binding and makes a new, legally binding contract. They need a witness so she
drags her roommate from her bed. Surprisingly, the devil doesn’t know how to read so
he just follows wherever she tells him to sign. She makes her demands like getting
good grades and a date, then her roommate also says she wants a date as well as
CASH MONEY. She hands him a $1 bill and says that’s his payment. He asks why
she pays him, then she explains that the document he just signed says that he’s the one
who’s giving his soul to her, not vice versa. He fumes and literally spits out fire. The
supervisor, who she says is more terrifying than the devil himself, comes in to see
what all the ruckus is about. He gets scolded and vanishes weakly. Then the
supervisor leaves.
The only character named here is Bobbie, the roommate. And obviously the devil.
2) I Don’t Kiss Strangers
Summary: A guy is at a party and he wants to talk to this girl one last time before he
leaves. She finally drags him into the bathroom as a compromise because he wanted to
go outside but she wanted to stay close to the booze. Turns out he’s being drafted and
they won’t see each other for a year. So she explains that she’s being indifferent
towards him because she can’t really love him the same way, she’ll be the woman
waiting for a soldier, and everything will be different. He retorts that he’s the one
doing all the hard work in the field. But she ends it with “I don’t kiss strangers. You
ought to know that by now.”
“You’re not just the guy I love anymore. You’re the guy I love who’s been drafted.
And all I get out of it is this few minutes saying goodbye to you. When you go away I
won’t have anything at all except what you leave me.”
One of the reasons, I think, that she’s acting this way is because she’s scared of his
change because she probably knows what being drafted does to people. Or maybe she
just doesn’t want to be so dependent on him, always waiting on him, it’ll be tiring. Or
maybe she just hates him now and wants to get rid of him. But she says she still loves
him, so she probably just fears change.
3) Summer Afternoon
Summary: Jeannie & Carrie play with dolls named Rosabelle & Amelia. After a while
they get bored and goes to this house where they shout to Tippie to come out and
maybe just wave to them but no one appears. Her toys and dolls are still there on the
windowsill. When Jeannie tells her mum about Tippie, she says that’s where the
Archers live and their only daughter died and she herself helped them pack away
everything. Then Carrie comes over to bring her doll back home. They plan to have
lunch together the next day. They say goodbye to each other and refer to each other by
their dolls’ names.
4) Indians Live in Tents
, Summary: a funny story told entirely in letters. Allan Burlingame wants to live in
Marian Griswold’s room because her friends (the Tuttles) found a new place. He wants
to move her furniture to her new place as soon as possible but she’s having to hide the
fact that she’s living in their apartment because they’re not legally allowed to sublet it.
Mr. Shax informs her of this, and she tells him it’s horrible that he’d allow such
injustice to befall on someone like this because everyone deserves shelter, even
Indians live in tents and dogs live in kennels and she’s living here. She plans to hold
out there so she tells Allan to bring over her furniture. Allan sends a letter to Bill who
tells Timmy to bring him over his furniture who asks his mum to bring over his own
furniture. Mr. Shax relents, but the Tuttles can’t move into their new place because of
their baby. So the chain of letters sets off again, beginning with Marian telling Allan to
keep her furniture in her old place all the way to Timmy’s mum. So Allan resorts to
proposing to his girlfriend Felicia by letter so they could live in her parents’ house.
Then, surprise surprise, the Tuttles found another place perfect for them. Felicia
accepts his proposal and tells him about her family’s lavish mansion they could live in
now.
5) The Very Hot Sun in Bermuda
Summary: Katie Collins walks hurriedly to a building next to a brook while musing
about her tan and her bikini. She meets up with Peter, who’s painting a long & black-
haired girl in moonlight. Besides him are the same type of painting with the girl in
various different poses. They’re having an affair and the wife knows it. She says that
after a few weeks, when Katie has graduated, they’ll never see each other again. The
paintings are for Katie so she could pass her course. He’s clearly distressed but she
doesn’t really care and as soon as she leaves (not caring that he wants her to stay), she
thinks about wearing a red swimsuit.
6) Nightmare
Summary: Miss Morgan is an impeccably professional and meticulous woman who
works in an office for a Mr. Lang. He asks her to deliver a package. When she goes
outside, there’s adverts everywhere for this sort-of game where people need to find a
Miss X in order to win all the prizes imaginable to a human being. The truck
bombarding people with announcements of what Miss X looks like keeps following
Miss Morgan around, describing her exact appearance, including the package she’s
carrying. She’s annoyed, and then scared that she might get sued because she’s dressed
exactly the same way they’re describing Miss X, she changes her clothes a bit but then
the description changes to match her exact outfit. She gets a taxi to go downtown to
deliver the package and goes into a hat shop where she gets a hat box and gets
persuaded to buy a hat by this peculiar old lady who’s had this shop for 17 years now.
She goes through a parade whose floats are very much centred around Miss X.
Desperately, she rings Mr. Lang but keeps getting told that he’s busy on another call.
She goes into a quiet street with no one there, escaping the Miss X shenanigan
temporarily, then goes into a shoe repair shop. At that point she gets recognised and
gets told by the guy who guesses that she’s Miss X to get into a car. She goes to a hotel
and falls asleep, with him saying that this city’s no good because no one recognised
her, they might get luckier in Chicago tomorrow.
7) Dinner for a Gentleman
Summary: Dimity Baxter is planning a dinner for Hugh Talley, a colleague of hers,
who’s handsome but looks down on women because he can apparently cook better
