Kid Stuff

Kelley is three days from his wedding to Betty when the aliens arrive. They're curious about human anatomy and proceed to remake him into something unrecognizable, a transformation he watches with growing horror while desperately wondering how he'll ever face his bride. The story unfolds in a surreal blend of comedy and dread as Kelley grapples with losing the body he knew, the face Betty fell in love with, the very substance that made him who he is. Written in 1955, when science fiction still wielded wonder as readily as speculation, this is a queasy, funny, genuinely unsettling meditation on identity and what we owe to those who love us. The aliens may not mean any harm, but their indifference to human convention leaves Kelley stranded in a body that no longer fits his life. It's the night before the wedding and he has to choose: disappear, or let Betty see what he's become.