The Landlady
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"The Landlady" is a short story by Roald Dahl, included in his 1960 collection Kiss Kiss. It was originally published in the 28 November 1959 edition of The New Yorker.
[edit] Plot summary
The story focuses on a 17-year old boy named Billy Weaver who has just stepped into the world of work. Exhausted after a business trip in Bath, he looks for a place to stay, and notices a bed and breakfast and steps in. He rings a bell and the middle-aged landlady appears. She treats him generously, giving him a floor of his own to stay on, and charging him much less than he expected. However, she also exhibits a sense of creepiness (foreshadowing), which although apparently Billy does not catch, appears quite evident to the reader. In the logbook he sees that only two other guests have stayed there, one of which was older, the other was younger, and both having arrived earlier then 2 years prior. Billy finds the names familiar from the newspaper, and on further reflection considers that they "were both famous for the same thing". Suspicion continues to generate in the reader when the landlady makes a comment about one of the two boys in past tense, to which Billy comments that he must have only left recently. The landlady replies that he never left, and nor had the other. Billy then notices that the dog by the fireplace and the parrot he had noticed earlier were stuffed. The landlady says that she did it herself, and he is impressed. She then tells him, "I stuff all my little pets myself when they pass away", and offers him more tea. Billy refuses because the tea "tasted faintly of bitter almonds", which is characteristic of cyanide. Much like the fashion of other pieces in the collection, the story ends soon afterward, leaving the remainder of the encounter to the reader's imagination.
[edit] "The Supposed Ending"
Although it is never said in the story, the most common guess from most readers is inferred when the character, "Billy" mentions that his tea has a "bitter almond" taste which is a notable event. In many suspense and mystery stories, potassium cyanide is said to have a "bitter almond" taste, such as the one Billy described. Knowing this, the reader can infer that the woman has poisoned Billy, and will proceed to stuff him as if he were a dead animal. There is also a comment that one of the other guests had perfect skin, with no marks at all. Though, some suggested that the landlady has necrophilia, as she stores dead bodies and preserves them with taxidermy, which may result as necrophilic actions.
| Stories in Roald Dahl's Kiss Kiss |
|---|
| "The Landlady" | "William and Mary" | "The Way Up to Heaven" | "Parson's Pleasure" | "Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat" | "Royal Jelly" | "Georgy Porgy" | "Genesis and Catastrophe" | "Edward the Conqueror" | "Pig" | "The Champion of the World" |
