The Way Up to Heaven

"The Way Up to Heaven" is a macabre short story by Roald Dahl. It was originally published in The New Yorker,[1] as were some of the other short stories that would later be reprinted in the 1960 collection Kiss Kiss.

"The Way Up to Heaven"
AuthorRoald Dahl
Published inThe New Yorker
Publication typeMagazine
Publication date27 February 1954

Plot summary

Mr and Mrs Foster are a mature, wealthy married couple living in New York. Mrs Foster has recently begun to suspect her husband of purposely exacerbating her pathological fear of missing a train or plane. She is continuously badgered by her husband, Eugene, who makes a habit of waiting to leave the house until after the proverbial last second has already passed.

Mrs Foster is preparing for a six-week trip to Paris (after weeks of persuading her husband to let her go), where their daughter and her family (including three grandchildren that she has never yet met) reside. After letting his wife wait anxiously for some time, Mr Foster finally gets into the car with her. As they are driven to the airport, Mrs Foster finds that despite being far behind schedule, her flight is temporarily postponed until the next day due to a thick fog. Mrs Foster decides to get a room near the airport for the night, but her husband insists that she come home.

The next day while attempting to leave for the airport without her husband, things finally come to a head. After the usual rounds of teasing his wife's delicate psyche, and demanding that he be driven to his club (which is in the opposite direction of the airport and therefore complicating the journey to the airport even more), Mr Foster tries to foil his wife for the last time by claiming he has mistakenly left a present for their daughter in the house. Mr Foster insists on looking for the gift himself and goes back inside. While her husband pretends to search their six-story home, Mrs Foster finds the present down the side of one of the car seats and can't help but notice "it was wedged down firm and deep, as though with the help of a pushing hand". Mrs Foster rushes to retrieve her husband as quickly as possible, but hears a series of unspecified noises from inside their home and has a sudden change of heart. Mrs Foster gets back in the car and much to the surprise of the driver, demands to be driven to the airport immediately, stating that her husband will understand and will get a cab to the club instead.

Mrs Foster enjoys her time in Paris, meets and gets to know her grandchildren and writes her husband weekly, as promised.

The visit concludes, and Mrs Foster flies back to New York. Upon her arrival at the airport, Mrs Foster notes that her husband has not sent a car to meet her. After arriving at home, she enters and notices a large pile of mail under the letterbox, as well as a strange smell. She does a quick lap around the first floor and, seemingly satisfied, calls the elevator company to report the home's apparently broken lift. The story closes with Mrs Foster waiting for the arrival of the lift repair man.

Analysis

The implication is that despite her meek and subservient behaviour for the last 30 years, Mrs Foster was finally pushed to the point of purposely leaving her husband trapped in a broken elevator (explained by the faint noises she heard behind the front door), inside their empty home, for six weeks, and that this led to his death.

Adaptations

"The Way Up to Heaven" was dramatized in a 1958 episode of Alfred Hitchcock's television show Suspicion (Season 1, Episode 29),[2][3][4][5] and subsequently in a 1979 episode of Tales of the Unexpected (Season 1, Episode 9).[6] In the Tales of the Unexpected episode, the Fosters' home is moved to Hampstead, London and Mr Foster becomes an Englishman, but Mrs Foster is depicted as an American expatriate (played by Julie Harris) returning to New York by air.

References
  1. All works by Roald Dahl. The New Yorker. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
  2. "Suspicion: The Way up to Heaven (1958)". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  3. "Suspicion - Season 1, Episode 29: The Way Up to Heaven - TV.com". TV.com.
  4. "Suspicion". TV.com.
  5. "Suspicion: The Way Up to Heaven". TV.com.
  6. "Tales of the Unexpected: The Way up to Heaven (1979)". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
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