With the world's population perfectly regulated, what does it mean when Mrs. Welling has triplets?

Kurt Lonegut, today on the Classic Tales Podcast.

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The Azzen Lupin Podcast is coming along nicely. Wednesdays are about to get even better.

Keep an ear open for our new show.

This week, we're continuing our little foray into the world of classic science fiction.

Kurt Lonegut attained international success with his novel Slotter House 5 in 1969.

His other notable works include Welcome to the Monkey House, Sirens of Titan and Cats' Cradle.

The latter two were nominated for Hugo Awards for notable science fiction.

And now, 2B-R-0-2B by Kurt Lonegut.

Everything was perfectly swell. There were no prisons, no slums, no insane asylums, no cripples, no poverty, no wars.

All diseases were conquered, so was old age. Death, barring accidents, was an adventure for volunteers.

The population of the United States was stabilized at 40 million souls.

One bright morning in the Chicago Lying Inn Hospital, a man named Edward K. Welling, Jr. waited for his wife to give birth.

He was the only man waiting. Not many people were born a day anymore.

Welling was 56, a mere stripling, and a population whose average age was 129.

X-rays had revealed that his wife was going to have triplets. The children would be his first.

...