There Will Come Soft Rains (Bradbury)
Short Summary
Allendale, California, August 4, 2026. In a post-apocalyptic city of rubble and ashes, a single automated house continued its daily routines, maintaining its schedule in a world where its human inhabitants were gone.
The house prepared meals, cleaned itself with robotic mice, and maintained its garden. On its charred western wall, five silhouettes remained in paint: a family frozen in everyday activities, their images preserved from the nuclear blast that had destroyed the city. When a dying dog entered seeking its former family, the house admitted it, then efficiently disposed of its body after it died.
That night, a fire started in the kitchen when a tree branch broke a window and spilled cleaning solvent onto the stove. As the house fought desperately to save itself,
The house shuddered, oak bone on bone, its bared skeleton cringing from the heat, its wire, its nerves revealed as if a surgeon had torn the skin off to let the red veins and capillaries quiver
Detailed Summary
Division of the summary into chapters is conditional.
The Automated House Maintains Its Routines
In a post-apocalyptic world of 2026, a fully automated house continued its daily routines despite the absence of its inhabitants. The house announced the time, prepared meals, and cleaned itself meticulously.
The house stood alone in a city of rubble and ashes. This was the one house left standing. At night the ruined city gave off a radioactive glow which could be seen for miles.
Silent Reminders of the Past
The western wall of the house bore haunting silhouettes, the only remnants of the family that once lived there.
Here the silhouette in paint of a man mowing a lawn. Here, as in a photograph, a woman bent to pick flowers... their images burned on wood in one titanic instant, a small boy, hands flung into the air
The house maintained its protective routines, suspicious of any intrusion. It responded to every sound, snapping up its shades at the slightest disturbance, displaying an almost paranoid level of self-protection.
The Last Living Visitor
A dying dog entered the house, leaving muddy tracks that the cleaning robots hurriedly removed. The animal, once robust but now emaciated and covered in sores, searched frantically through the house before collapsing.
The House's Final Performance
As evening approached, the house prepared for its nightly poetry reading. It selected a Sara Teasdale poem for Mrs. McClellan, unaware of her absence.
Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree, If mankind perished utterly; And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn Would scarcely know that we were gone.
The House's Destruction
A fire broke out when a tree branch crashed through the kitchen window, shattering cleaning solvent bottles. Despite its sophisticated fire-fighting systems, the house could not save itself. The fire spread rapidly, consuming everything in its path.
And the voices fading as the wires popped their sheathings like hot chestnuts. One, two, three, four, five voices died... Ten more voices died.
The house fought desperately against the fire, deploying all its automated defenses. Water rats squeaked from the walls, spraying water, while mechanical rain showered from the ceiling. But the water supply eventually ran out. The fire consumed everything - from precious artworks to the nursery's magical projections. In its final moments, the house continued its programmed routines, making breakfast at a frenzied pace and reciting poetry even as it burned.
The fire's victory was complete. The house collapsed into its cellar, leaving only one wall standing amidst the smoking ruins.
Dawn showed faintly in the east. Among the ruins, one wall stood alone. Within the wall, a last voice said, over and over again... 'Today is August 5, 2026, today is...'
Until the very end, the house maintained its routines, oblivious to the fact that it was the last remnant of human civilization in a world destroyed by nuclear war. Its final act was to announce the date repeatedly, a meaningless gesture in a world where time no longer held significance for anyone.