Aging, among many things, has been cured and the population of the United States is holding steady at 40 million. How? Babies are only allowed to live if some adult, tired of living in eternal youth, volunteers to be terminated. Seems like an OK plan, until this one couple gives birth to triplets.

(from Bagombo Snuff Box)

Read the title like this: 2 Be Or Naught To Be. Not too subtle.

It’s an easy read that spends most of its pages setting up its desperate ending, making it seem not just believable, but inevitable. As usual, Vonnegut relies a bit more of concept than style.

While this story is hardly primitive, it is worth noting that “2BR02B” comes from Vonnegut’s early period as a freelance writer for magazines in the 1950s. In 1965, his novel God Bless You Mr. Rosewater makes reference to this story, attributing it to his soon-to-be recurring pulp author character Kilgore Trout.

I confirmed this bit of trivia via Marc Leeds’ nigh inexhaustable, though slightly dated, compendium, The Vonnegut Encyclopedia. I’ve only ever seen one copy of it (at The Strand in New York City) and you better believe I bought it. So, there you have it. I am a big Kurt Vonnegut nerd.

Hiho.