Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat

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"Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat" is a story by Roald Dahl. It first appeared in the 1959 issue of Nugget.

[edit] Plot summary

Mrs. Bixby and her husband, a dentist, live in a flat. Unknown to Mr. Bixby, his wife has a boyfriend called the Colonel who she sees once a month, whilst claiming to visit her aunt.

One day, Mrs. Bixby gets a rare and expensive present from the Colonel: a black, lustrous, and quite extravagant mink coat. A letter from the Colonel that came in the box with the coat informs Mrs. Bixby that they can no longer see each other, and suggests she tell her husband the mink coat was a present from her aunt for Christmas. She is clearly in despair as she reads the letter.

Mrs. Bixby however knows that her aunt is far too poor to be given credit for the purchase of the coat, and is intent on keeping it. She decides to go to a pawn-broker, and sells the coat for $50. The pawn-broker gives her a pawn ticket, which she declines to mark with any kind of name, or description. The ticket does however guarantee her right to claim the coat at any time. She tells her husband that she found the pawn ticket in the taxi, and he decides it would be best if he redeemed the ticket, in spite of Mrs. Bixby's pleas.

The next day Mr. Bixby goes to the pawn shop to redeem the ticket and claim the object it stands for. He brings it home that evening, to give it to Mrs. Bixby. He gets her all excited about it, and just before she opens her eyes to see it, he says " It's real mink!". She then opens her eyes to find it is mink, but that it is merely a small, mangy stole, and not her coat.

As Mrs. Bixby leaves her husband's office a few moments later, Mrs. Pulteney the secretary walks proudly out of the office, wearing the black and rare mink coat that the Colonel gave to Mrs. Bixby. It is implied that Mr. Bixby is having an affair with Mrs. Pulteney and decided to give her the coat, buying a tacky fur neckpiece for his wife instead.

Stories in Roald Dahl's Kiss Kiss
"The Landlady" | "William and Mary" | "The Way Up to Heaven" | "Parson's Pleasure" | "Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat" | "Royal Jelly" | "Georgy Porgy" | "Genesis and Catastrophe" | "Edward the Conqueror" | "Pig" | "The Champion of the World"