“The World She Wanted” November 1952

Larry Brewster is happily inebriated at a table littered with bottles and butts at his regular, the Wind-Up. An attractive blond named Allison Holmes appears and tells him the time has come for them to meet. Gradually, she reveals a solipsistic fantasy whereby this world (one among many) is hers alone, and everything and everyone in it is only partly real and there for her use and amusement, including Larry, who she announces will marry her. Everywhere they go, evidence accumulates to support what she is saying. But their relationship is not going well. She shows Larry their new house, which Larry views as a modernist architectural nightmare. They go to a fancy French restaurant that Larry does not like. The last straw is the Wind-Up. Larry’s beloved Dixieland dive bar has been transformed into a posh cocktail bar in Allison’s world. He finally threatens to leave her, but she warns him he cannot. He is, after all, only partly real in her world. Larry decides it is his world and makes Allison disappear. Everything turns out for the best.