[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-420444-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-420444-en":131},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","sugar-plum","SUGAR PLUM","","“Sugar Plum” follows Charles Edward Button as he returns late and announces he has just bought a planet, sparking immediate alarm from his wife Betty and especially from cousin Aurelia. Aurelia urges a refund, citing the failure of Charles’s investments, but Charles insists the purchase is intentional and ideological. He frames the Second Victorian Age as a refuge from modernism and brings in their robot butler’s programmed commentator, whose provocative talk about changing fashions and social freedoms triggers outrage. The story then turns to protecting Betty and confronting the household’s conflicting values.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/story-novel/","Story & Novel",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/sugar-plum/420444/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/sugar-plum/420444.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Ben ","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-03","2026-09-28",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",12,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"Why does Charles buy Sugar Plum?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"Charles buys Sugar Plum to escape modernism and preserve what he views as the true principles of the Nineteenth Century and the Second Victorian Age.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How do Betty and cousin Aurelia react to the purchase?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Betty is worried and asks whether they can afford it, while Aurelia is outraged and demands Charles get his money back immediately.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What triggers the biggest conflict in the household?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Their programmed commentator, Watson Widgett, delivers provocative news about outlawed corsets, women’s voting, and revived bikinis, causing Aurelia to collapse in shock and outrage.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},420444,1790940104,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,87,91,95,100,105,110,115,120,123,127],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":85,"slug":86},90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":88,"show_sort_weight":89,"slug":90},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":92,"show_sort_weight":93,"slug":94},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":96,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":101,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":112,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":116,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":117,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":119},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":118,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":121,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":122},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":124,"slug":126},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":128,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":130},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":132},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":133,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":134,"doc_module":4,"category_id":22,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":135,"file_id":136,"file_url":137,"file_type":138,"file_size":139,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":140,"language":141,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":142,"faqs":143,"seo_title":144,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":145,"read_time":146},2336478951081,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","# SUGAR PLUM\n\nREGINALD BRETNOR  \nDigitized by the Internet Archivein 2022 with funding fromKahle/Austin Foundation  \n# SUGAR PLUM\n\nReginald Bretnor  \nThis edition prepared in 2013  \nSugar Plum  \nIllustrated by A5HMAN  \nOn a clear spring evening in 2189,Charles EdwardButton came home half an hour late for his supper,tossed his hat to the robot butler who came out frombehind the DoItAll,and announced that he had justbought a planet.  \nHis wife,Betty,was looking small and long-sufferingon a plastic reproduction of a Victorian love-seat,andher cousin Aurelia,a large,handsome woman,wasstanding behind her protectively.  \n\"Of course,\"he informed them,\"it's not a big planet.But what a bargain!With real oceans,and two moons,and—\"  \n\"Real estate,real estate,real estate!\"Cousin Aurelia'start voice cut him off in mid-sentence.\"You know what'scome of every one of your investments.Call the manright now and tell him you want your money back!\"  \n\"I'm afraid it's too late.\"Charles avoided her eye.\"Ibought it up at a tax-auction and—well,the governmentnever refunds.\"  \n\"I thought so.A planet nobody wants.Probably all rundown,with swamps and deserts,and in some dreadful,  \n      Sugar Plum        \nshabby district where the neighbors have squirmytentacles,or eyes on stalks,or big,nasty beaks!\"  \n\"It isn't at all.It's in a good neighborhood—only twosystems away from the Inchcapes'new summer planet.A little remote,but that means more privacy.\"He took acatalogue out of his pocket.\"Parcel 71,\"he read.\"'Sugar Plum,a Class IV planet'—that means it's likeEarth,only bigger—'claimed 8/12/85 by Space CaptainAlexander Burgee,under Planetary Homestead Act of2147(amended.)'And here's his description of the placewhere he landed:'Neat as a pin,fine climate,full ofcritters and fish,quite uninhabited.'He was lost in DeepSpace,poor fellow.That's why they sold it.\"  \nBetty smiled faintly.\"The Inchcapes call their planetBide-A-Wee.I think Sugar Plum's ever so much nicer.But—but can we afford it?\"  \n\"We certainly can't!\"fumed Cousin Aurelia.\"We'll putit back on the market and salvage whatever we can.\"  \n\"No,we won't,\"Charles said firmly.\"And it's not justa summer resort.We're pulling up stakes to live thereall year round.\"  \nBetty gasped.  \nCousin Aurelia straightened up,bristling.  \n\"I have made up my mind,\"Charles went on.\"I havedone a lot of serious thinking.\"He pointed at the heavilyframed neo-daguerreotype portraits on the walls.\"Ourancestors rediscovered the only true principles,those ofthe great Nineteenth Century.They brought the SecondVictorian Age into being.Civilization reached its peak,its full flowering.But now all is crumbling before thepoisonous onslaught of modernism.We who have notbeen corrupted must seek out a refuge.That,Cousin,iswhy I bought Sugar Plum.\"  \n\"Nonsense!\"exclaimed Cousin Aurelia.\"There may bechanges everywhere else,but never in Boston.\"  \nSugar Plum  \n\"Ha!\"Charles looked at his watch.\"Solomon!\"hecalled out.  \nThe butler came bowing out of the DoItAll nook,where the servants stayed when they were switched off.He wore a swallowtail coat and knee-breeches,and hadkinky white hair.Made to order,he was CousinAurelia's idea.  \n\"Yassuh,Marse Charles.Here Ah is.\"  \n\"Solomon,\"ordered Charles,\"tune in WatsonWidgett.\"  \nBetty paled,uttering a polite little scream.  \n       Sugar Plum         \n\"Are you mad?\"cried Cousin Aurelia.\"I've heardabout him.I'll not have that man in my home!\"  \nCharles squared his shoulders.\"Cousin,may Iremind you that I am head of this house,and that weare Victorians?It's high time you found out what's goingon.Solomon!\"  \n\"Yassuh.\"  \nThere was a click from the DoItAl1,a brief flash oflight and a figure appeared in their midst,a cheerfulyoung man in loose trousers and shirt,without coat,waistcoat,cravat,or even a pair of suspenders.He wasgrinning at Cousin Aurelia.  \n\"Boys and girls,\"he was saying,\"Wyoming hasoutlawed corsets!The folks in Siskiyou,California,havegiven women the vote!And listen to this.The Bikiniswimsuit—ju","cbCaif8RrYBdVjex","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaif8RrYBdVjex","pdf",2470995,36,"English","# SUGAR PLUM\n## Charles buys a planet\n## Aurelia’s demand for a refund\n## Victorian ideals vs modernism\n## The commentator’s shocking news","[{\"question\":\"Why does Charles buy Sugar Plum?\",\"answer\":\"Charles buys Sugar Plum to escape modernism and preserve what he views as the true principles of the Nineteenth Century and the Second Victorian Age.\"},{\"question\":\"How do Betty and cousin Aurelia react to the purchase?\",\"answer\":\"Betty is worried and asks whether they can afford it, while Aurelia is outraged and demands Charles get his money back immediately.\"},{\"question\":\"What triggers the biggest conflict in the household?\",\"answer\":\"Their programmed commentator, Watson Widgett, delivers provocative news about outlawed corsets, women’s voting, and revived bikinis, causing Aurelia to collapse in shock and outrage.\"}]","SUGAR PLUM | PDF",1790621012,55]