THE STORY: Disgruntled by the fact that his shabby, bickering family falls just short of inclusion as one of the “Hundred Neediest Cases,” Francis Stockstill decides to turn to shop-lifting, in the hope that he can escape to a nice, comfortable jail. But the judge, impressed that the Stockstills destitution rates thirty Peer Group Points, eagerly sets him free. Stockstill, taking advantage of his immunity from arrest, embarks on an epic stealing spree. However he commits the unpardonable error of pilfering from a blind news dealer who just happens to be Neediest Case number one hundred! In seeking to escape the judge’s indignation Stockstill is felled by a policeman’s bullet. But his end is not in vain, for his violent demise jumps his family up the Destitution Curve for a total of fifty-seven Peer Group Pints, and a secure place high on the Suffering Analysis chart.
A satiric and bizarre black comedy.
