This short story is on the list of the “Top ten horror short stories” of the Guardian. The story of Billy Weaver, a young man of 17 years old, who arrives in Bath for a new job and is looking for a place to live. He passes by this house that rents rooms and peeps inside. All seems cosy, so he rings the door. He will meet the landlady, somewhat weird, that explains that she has already had two other guests that are still in the house on the fourth floor, but Billy never sees them, and then he realises that the parrot and the dog are both dead and stuffed. The story ends on Billy finding that his tea has a slight almond taste. This horror short story is in fact horrible but funny, everything is implied, exactly like Roald Dahl knows how. Nice little moment of reading.
“On the other hand, a pub would be more congenial than a boarding-house. There would be beer and arts in the evenings, and lots of people to talk to, and it would probably be a good bit cheaper, too. He had stayed a couple of nights in a pub once before and he had liked it. He had never stayed in any boarding-houses, and, to be perfectly honest, he was a tiny bit frightened of them. The name itself conjured up images of watery cabbage, rapacious landladies, and a powerful smell of kippers in the living-room.”