“Heavy Set” (1964)

This Ray Bradbury story, first printed in Playboy magazine under Ray Russell’s editorial regime, comes with a few surprises. It is recognizably Bradbury’s Midwestern sing-song voice, but the details are quite dark, not science fiction or wistful or elegiac at all, which I normally associate with him. “Heavy Set” works on subterranean levels, like Robert Aickman or Dennis Etchison. The main character Leonard is nearly 31 and living with his mother. He’s a bodybuilder, working out constantly with weights and such. He hangs around with high school kids who admire him and call him “Heavy Set.” The girls want to go out with him, but he always seems to have excuses to get out of it. It’s Halloween and he’s having a party, dressed up like an English schoolboy, “the mean little boy,” carrying a giant lollipop. It reminded me of Herbie Popnecker from ACG Comics in the ‘60s. The story is set in California and Leonard is also a surfer, by the way. He’s having the party at “the beach,” not at his mother’s place. It seems strange for Leonard to be having a party. Some interpretations of this story have him as intellectually disabled. It doesn’t read that way to me, although something about him is definitely not right. He’s sullen, withdrawn—not the type to throw a party. And it turns out to be a disaster. Not even half the people invited show up and Leonard is the only one in costume. The center of this story is the relationship between Leonard and his mother, which is not healthy. They seem to be all each other has. Whether it’s incestuous is not clear but my guess is sadly yes. It definitely radiates an aura of needy and creepy impulses. While Leonard is away at his party his mother worries he will never come back, without a word, that she will just never see or hear from him again. This story feels deeply unpleasant on multiple levels. It plays with us, teases us, then shanks us with the worst suggestions when Leonard comes home from the party upset. He talks to his mother about it, but he's still upset. He spends hours on the punching bag, until after 3 in the morning. Then he comes into the house and gets into bed with her. It seems to be something new but possibly it’s happened before. She pretends to be asleep. He’s still working out with hand grip strengtheners which squeak in the dark. The last line notes it’s still “a long time before dawn.” But this scene that tremors with terrible potentiality is just the capper. All the details here are increasingly weird and disturbing. Nothing seems real but it’s not a dream. The phone rings at strange times. It’s that kind of story and it’s amazing.

The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural, ed. Ray Russell (out of print)
Read story online.