"Mrs Bixby and the Colonel's Coat" is a

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British author of popular children's literature and short stories, a poet, screenwriter and a wartime Flying ace, fighter ace. His books have sold more than 300 million copies ...

that first appeared in the 1959 issue of ''Nugget''. The story is Dahl's variation on a popular anecdote dating back at least to 1939: a married woman receives a glamorous mink coat from a man with whom she had an affair. She hopes to sneak the coat into her home without arousing her husband's suspicions, but soon discovers her husband has his own plans.

Summary

Mrs Bixby and her dentist husband live in a New York apartment. Once a month, Mrs Bixby travels from New York City to Baltimore, supposedly visiting her elderly aunt; in fact, she is having an affair with the Colonel. As she is preparing to leave after one of these visits to Baltimore, Mrs Bixby receives a package from the Colonel containing a letter and an expensive gift: a dark mink coat. The Colonel's letter informs Mrs Bixby they can no longer see each other, and suggests she tell her husband the mink coat is a Christmas present from her aunt. Mrs Bixby is in despair as she reads the letter: her aunt is far too poor to be given credit for the gift. However, Mrs Bixby is intent on keeping the coat and devises a plan. On her return to New York she visits a

pawnbroker A pawnbroker is an individual that offers secured loans to people, with items of personal property used as Collateral (finance), collateral. A pawnbrokering business is called a pawnshop, and while many items can be pawned, pawnshops typic ...

and pawns the coat for $50. The pawnbroker gives her a pawn ticket, which she declines to mark with any kind of name or description. The ticket guarantees her right to claim the coat at any time. She tells her husband she found the pawn ticket in the taxi. He decides it would be best if he redeemed the ticket, in spite of Mrs Bixby's objections. The next day, Dr Bixby goes to the pawn shop to redeem the ticket and claim the item it stands for. Mrs Bixby is excited and rushes to her husband's office after he has collected it. She is horrified when he proudly holds up a small, mangy stole, and not her coat. He announces it is real mink and that she should consider it her Christmas present. Mrs Bixby initially believes the pawnbroker has cheated her of her coat and intends to confront him. But as she leaves her husband's office, Dr Bixby's secretary, Miss Pulteney, walks proudly past her, wearing the mink coat. It is implied Dr Bixby is having an affair with Miss Pulteney, decided to give ''her'' the coat, and purchased a cheap stole for his wife instead. As Mrs Bixby cannot demand the coat back without revealing her own affair, she is hoist with her own petard.

Adaptations

;Television ;Film ''

Dus Kahaniyaan ''Dus Kahaniyaan'' () is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language anthology film featuring ten different stories directed by a host of six directors: Sanjay Gupta, Apoorva Lakhia, Meghna Gulzar, Rohit Roy, Hansal Mehta and Jasmeet Dhodhi. The film feature ...

'' (English: Ten stories), a 2007 Indian

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

-language

anthology film An anthology film (also known as an omnibus film or a portmanteau film) is a single film consisting of three or more shorter films, each complete in itself and distinguished from the other, though frequently tied together by a single theme, premise ...

comprising ten

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

s by different directors, includes Matrimony by

Sanjay Gupta Sanjay Gupta (born October 23, 1969) is an American neurosurgeon, medical reporter, and writer. He serves as associate chief of the neurosurgery service at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, associate professor of neurosurgery at ...

which is based on this short story.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mrs. Bixby And The Colonel's Coat Short stories by Roald Dahl 1959 short stories British short stories Fur Short stories about adultery Short stories adapted into films Tales of the Unexpected (TV series) episodes Works originally published in American magazines Works originally published in men's magazines