A working-class man with a penchant for scientific curiosity recounts a weekend turned unusual by a domestic experiment gone awry. Following a mechanical mishap with an oil appliance that spills into his kitchen setup, he embarks on a series of chemical experiments in an attempt to clean up and repurpose the mess. Using various cleaning agents and soap powders, he inadvertently concocts a gelatinous substance with properties that defy normal expectations. This mass, which he observes intently, displays behaviors resembling those of a living organism: it absorbs water from its surroundings, appears to move and “feed” on moisture, and even responds to changes in its environment, drawing comparisons to early theories of spontaneous generation. Throughout his account, the protagonist explains his experiments with precise, scientific language, intermingling technical chemical observations with personal anecdotes and domestic disturbances. His wife, who is both exasperated and frightened by the unfolding events, reacts dramatically as the substance seems to take on a life of its own in the confines of their kitchen. The substance’s unusual behavior—sucking up water from a nearly dry environment, its ability to overcome surface tension, and its unexpected reaction to temperature and water influx—raises disturbing questions about the boundary between inert chemical mixtures and something that mimics biological life. Despite the initial novelty and his scientific enthusiasm, the situation rapidly escalates into a fearful ordeal when the substance begins to exhibit self-propagating tendencies. It flows toward him with alarming persistence, prompting a series of increasingly desperate experiments. After repeatedly assessing its density, moisture affinity, and resistance to conventional means of destruction, he ultimately resorts to using a blowtorch in a bid to terminate the phenomenon. The encounter leaves him physically injured, with seared flesh, and emotionally shaken, as the experiment which had once promised breakthroughs instead reveals a menacing, uncontrollable hazard. Amidst the chaos, the narrative touches on themes of unintended consequences, the perils of unchecked scientific experimentation intertwined with everyday life, and the ironic interplay between mundane domestic responsibilities and extraordinary phenomena. The incident forces him to confront the possibility that his accidental creation might have commercial potential—or could pose a broader environmental or biological threat—since the majority of the mysterious substance ended up being washed away into a nearby large body of water. Ultimately, his account is both a technical log of experimental observations and a harrowing personal memoir of a brief period when curiosity, routine life, and the unexpected mingled to produce a situation that defied both normal chemistry and common sense.
By Winston K. Marks · First published 1978 · Genre: Science Fiction, Horror, Dark Comedy