No Strings Attached

In Short

Lester del Rey’s dark comedy follows Henry Aimsworth, a rare-book dealer trapped in a dull marriage to his wife, Emma. Desperate for freedom and infatuated with his young shop assistant, Shirley, Henry stumbles upon an obscure volume containing an easy demon-summoning spell. When the demon Alfear appears, he disclaims traditional magic, explaining he is merely an alien creature bound by fixed, compulsory habits. Alfear agrees to kill Henry’s wife under a specific verbal trigger. Henry gets his wish without explicit supernatural trickery, only to discover too late the horrifying precision of his contract's psychological fine print.

The Story

Henry Aimsworth sits in his living room, utterly repulsed by his wife, Emma. Eleven years of marriage have worn down his patience: Emma has gained weight, neglects her appearance, spends her days absorbed in television, and speaks almost entirely in mindless, repetitive clichés. Her strict morality rules out any chance of divorce. Meanwhile, Henry has fallen in love with his attractive, blonde shop assistant, Shirley Bates, and spends his time plotting a way to remove Emma permanently without raising police suspicion.

While appraising an old, hand-printed volume on witchcraft, Henry finds a simple formula for summoning a demon that requires no complex ritual offerings. Intrigued, he tests the gestures and words. Immediately, a tall, yellow-skinned entity named Alfear materializes in the room. Alfear explains that he is not a traditional devil from Hell, but an inhabitant of an alternate dimension. Centuries ago, another alien's prank conditioned their species to respond to human summoning rituals as an involuntary, compulsory habit. Alfear insists he has no interest in human souls or playing malicious tricks; he simply wants to get his tasks over with so he can return home.

Seeing an opportunity, Henry asks Alfear to kill Emma by causing a stroke that will look entirely natural. To ensure the demon targets the right woman, Henry specifies two conditions: he must think of her as his wife, and she must utter her signature nightly phrase: "Early to bed and early to rise." Alfear agrees to the terms, noting that once the conditions are met, he will automatically manifest and execute the deed.

Later that evening, after returning from a movie, Emma recites her familiar line about bedtime. Instantly, Alfear appears and strikes her down with a fatal cerebral hemorrhage. The local doctor examines Emma's body and attributes her death entirely to high blood pressure and natural causes, leaving Henry completely un-suspected.

Elated and believing he has executed the perfect, consequence-free murder, Henry drives straight to Shirley's apartment to celebrate his sudden freedom. Overjoyed, the couple begins planning an immediate life together, including closing the shop and embarking on a world tour. Henry embraces Shirley, telling her passionately that he already considers her his true wife in his heart and mind. As dawn approaches, Shirley prepares to send Henry home so the neighbors will not talk. Standing in her kitchen, she casually repeats the old adage about going to bed early. Alfear instantly teleports into the room, misinterpreting the trigger, and fatally strikes Shirley down on the spot. Alfear admits his compulsive habit was triggered again by Henry's own mindset before vanishing, leaving a horrified Henry screaming over the body of his lover.

How It Unfolds

The domestic trap Henry sits at home seething with quiet resentment as his wife, Emma, spends her evening watching television and reciting mindless proverbs. He compares her unfavorably to his young assistant, Shirley, and secretly searches for a way to commit the perfect murder without drawing suspicion from the law.

An unexpected visitor While reading a strange manual of spells, Henry idly recites a ritual and brings forth Alfear, a tall, yellow-skinned entity in spangled tights. Alfear explains he is not a demon but an extra-dimensional being trapped by a psychological reflex that forces him to obey human summons.

Striking the bargain Realizing the creature is harmless to him, Henry requests that Alfear grant his wife a fatal stroke. He establishes the exact mental and verbal cues Alfear must rely on to identify Emma and carry out the deed.

The lethal trigger When Emma returns home and repeats her usual bedtime phrase, Alfear instantly materializes and kills her. The attending doctor attributes her death to natural causes, leaving Henry completely cleared of any wrongdoing.

A fatal misunderstanding Henry rushes to Shirley's apartment to celebrate his freedom and promises to marry her, explicitly declaring that he views her as his real wife. When Shirley casually utters the same fateful proverb, Alfear materializes once more and kills her, leaving Henry ruined by his own phrasing.

The People

• Henry Aimsworth: A bitter, calculating rare-book dealer who feels stifled by his domestic life. He desires a fresh start with his mistress and views murder as a practical solution, convincing himself that removing his wife is no worse than killing livestock. His arrogance and self-deception ultimately lead to his downfall.
• Emma Aimsworth: Henry’s predictable and overly traditional wife. Bound tightly to routine, she passes her time darning socks, watching television, and speaking in trite proverbs. She is entirely unaware of her husband's intense hatred or his deadly plot.
• Alfear: A tall, yellow-eyed entity from an alternate dimension who dresses in a gold cape and green shoes. Far from being a traditional evil devil, he is an annoyed, matter-of-fact traveler who acts purely out of a compulsive reflex built up over centuries of human interaction.
• Shirley Bates: Henry’s attractive blonde assistant and secret lover. She shares his desire for a grander life and eagerly joins in his plans for the future, unaware of the lethal supernatural conditions Henry has set in motion.

In Its Own Voice

"To achieve the perfect murder of a man's own wife, however, is a different matter. For obvious reasons, husbands are always high on the suspect list."

Henry ponders the difficult mechanics of eliminating his spouse without drawing the suspicion of the law.

"Bunk, Henry! Oh, my name's Alfear, by the way. I mean I was a fool. I should have gone to my psychiatrist and taken the fifty year course, as he advised."

Alfear dismisses traditional occult ideas, explaining that his presence is merely the result of an unaddressed psychological habit.

"I told you. I warned you some of us get conditioned to a habit the first time. And you thought of her as your wife and she said...."

Alfear offers his brief, clinical explanation to a horrified Henry just after taking Shirley's life in the kitchen.

What It's Really About

The story explores the dangers of emotional detachment and the unintended consequences of human hypocrisy. Henry treats the people in his life as disposable objects, rationalizing his wife's murder as a minor inconvenience solved through technicalities. Rather than dealing with traditional magical curses or demonic malice, the narrative frames its horror around mechanical logic and literal definitions. Henry's failure lies in his own words and feelings: by attempting to manipulate a rigid, rule-bound entity without fully understanding his own psychological state, he creates the exact conditions for his own destruction. The plot serves as a grim cautionary tale about the hazards of taking shortcuts to escape personal responsibilities.

Why Read It Today

No Strings Attached offers a sharp, darkly comedic twist on classical bargain-with-the-devil tropes. Lester del Rey subverts standard fantasy conventions by stripping the demon of any theological grandeur, presenting Alfear instead as a mildly exasperated, rule-bound entity dealing with a compulsive habit. Readers who enjoy sardonic ironies, mid-century pulp fiction, and tight, twist-ending narratives will appreciate how quickly the plot moves toward its conclusion.

The story remains remarkably accessible, written in crisp, direct prose that relies on irony rather than grand horror imagery. While the premise contains period tropes typical of 1950s magazine fiction—specifically the casual disdain for suburban marriage and middle-class domesticity—it uses those elements effectively to build its cynical narrative engine. The brief runtime and clever execution make it a satisfying, brisk read that leaves a lingering impression of how easily human arrogance can engineer its own ruin.