In 1951 Ray Bradbury wrote one of his most famous short stories, The Pedestrian. It is a tale about a man named Leonard Mead who likes to go for a stroll through the city streets every evening. Unfortunately for Mr. Mead, strolling through the city during the evening is considered such an unusual activity that he arouses the suspicions of a robot police car.
The story is based upon a real life incident in which Bradbury was questioned by police while taking a stroll with a friend in an area not often frequented by pedestrians. More importantly, this story is generally thought by literary critics to be the genesis of Ray Bradbury’s acclaimed novel, Fahrenheit 451.
My cocktail which pays homage to the Bradbury tale is a short serving which mixes Grapefruit and Lemon juice with George Street Spiced Rum. A dollop of Bols Triple Sec provides the foil for the tart lemon, and a few drops of Fees Cocktail Bitters rounds out the libation.
If you try it, you will see that it is anything but, Pedestrian.
The Pedestrian
1 3/4 oz George Street Spiced Rum
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/3 oz Grapefruit Juice
1/2 oz Bols Triple Sec
3 drops Fees Cocktail Bitters
ice
Twist of Lemon
Place the first five ingredients into a metal shaker with ice
Shake until the outside of the shaker begins to frost
Strain into a cocktail glass
Garnish with a twist of lemon peel
If you are interested in more of my cocktail recipes, please click this link (Cocktails and Recipes) for more of my mixed drink recipes!
This is perhaps one of Bradbury’s lessor known tales, it is nonetheless an important work with a theme often taken up by other writers. I do not want to give too much away, suffice it to say that it is a Pandora’s tale which warns of unintended consequences. You can find the story in two separate Ray Bradbury short story collections: Golden Apples of the Sun and S is for Space.
Bradbury’s stories ran the gamut from hard science fiction to horror fantasy, often with the two disparate genres colliding in wonderful ways. The inspiration for one of these stories came when he saw the ruins of a broken roller coaster on a California beach which suggested to him a dinosaur skeleton. In conceiving how the monster came to be washed up on shore, Ray Bradbury was inspired to write, The Fog Horn, a haunting tale of a lone sea monster who mistakes the sound emanating from a remote lighthouse as a call from one of his own kind.
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