(Prints size 82x150 cm)
"Button, Button" is a story by Richard Matheson, as short as deep and endless.
A young couple, Mr and Mrs Lewis, finds a package under their apartment’s door. It contains a box with a button. Later in the evening, Mr. Stuart pays a visit and offers a deal. If someone presses a button, a stranger will die somewhere without them noticing, and the one who presses it will receive 50,000 dollars (today it is the equivalent of 300,000 dollars, Dr. Evil). Mr. Lewis is outraged by the ethically unacceptable proposal and drives the stranger away. But Mrs. Lewis is overcame by a cocktail of curiosity and desire to go on vacation to Europe and improve living conditions. She secretly negotiates with Mr. Stuart and her own conscience. The latter has obviously weak position in the negotiations and it is losing them. Mrs. Lewis presses the button, like most of the inhabitants of modern world, day by day blindly wandering through corpse-kilometers to solve their daily tasks, hoping that the death of a stranger does not reach the TV or smartphone screens. In the real world, there are no boxes or Mr. Stewart. Buttons are placed around us: in cars, remote controls, thermostats, social networks, shopping malls, supermarkets, offices, gas stations, cinemas, etc.
A young couple, Mr and Mrs Lewis, finds a package under their apartment’s door. It contains a box with a button. Later in the evening, Mr. Stuart pays a visit and offers a deal. If someone presses a button, a stranger will die somewhere without them noticing, and the one who presses it will receive 50,000 dollars (today it is the equivalent of 300,000 dollars, Dr. Evil). Mr. Lewis is outraged by the ethically unacceptable proposal and drives the stranger away. But Mrs. Lewis is overcame by a cocktail of curiosity and desire to go on vacation to Europe and improve living conditions. She secretly negotiates with Mr. Stuart and her own conscience. The latter has obviously weak position in the negotiations and it is losing them. Mrs. Lewis presses the button, like most of the inhabitants of modern world, day by day blindly wandering through corpse-kilometers to solve their daily tasks, hoping that the death of a stranger does not reach the TV or smartphone screens. In the real world, there are no boxes or Mr. Stewart. Buttons are placed around us: in cars, remote controls, thermostats, social networks, shopping malls, supermarkets, offices, gas stations, cinemas, etc.
At the end of the story, Mrs. Lewis “whirled with a gasp as the telephone rang. Stumbling into the living room, she picked up the receiver.
"Mrs. Lewis?" Mr. Steward asked.
It wasn't her voice shrieking so; it couldn't be. "You said I wouldn't know the one that
died!”
"My dear lady," Mr. Steward said. "Do you really think you knew your husband?"”
"Mrs. Lewis?" Mr. Steward asked.
It wasn't her voice shrieking so; it couldn't be. "You said I wouldn't know the one that
died!”
"My dear lady," Mr. Steward said. "Do you really think you knew your husband?"”