Fiction_L Archives ? plum pudding story Dates: 12/16/99,9:09 AM  through  12/16/99,9:09 AM  (1 posting) Search for: Select one or more indexes to search: 2008-current     2006-2007     1996-2005    (Matches from each index will be displayed separately in the results page.) Return to December 1999 thread menu   |   Fiction_L Archives Menu

FROM: <BRODERIT@uhls.lib.ny.us>
REC'D: 12/16/99, 9:09 AM

Here is a question for short story experts:

My patron is trying to find a short story which she thinks is entitled "The Plum Pudding." She remembers it as
a first-person story told by a grocer or store merchant who allows a customer to sample some plum pudding at
no charge for many days, but then decides to ask when the customer intends to pay for it. After that, the
customer never returns because he has been humiliated. My patron believes the story was written in the early
1900's; it is not necessarily a Christmas or children's story. She thought it was a story by O. Henry, but
her research proved otherwise.

So far, I have identified a story called "Over the Plum Pudding" by John K. Bangs in a science fiction
anthology called "Ancestral Voices," but the patron does not believe this is the story (it is now being
requested through ILL).

I have checked Short Story Index, standard literary reference books, the Internet, the STUMPERS mailing list
and archives.

Do any of you have any suggestions where I could look further? Do any of you remember the story?

Thank you for your help. If you prefer, you may respond to my e-mail below instead of to the list.

Therese Broderick
Reference Librarian
Bethlehem Public Library
Delmar, NY
518-439-9314
theresebroderick@yahoo.com

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