Coxe, an unusually phlegmatic young

Coxe, an unusually phlegmatic young man. came to buy the new refrigerator in the usual fashion. He was looking for a bargain. It was the latest model, fresh from the new production lines in Los Angeles, but its price was considerably below standard
"Why is it so cheap?" Coxe wanted to know
"Frankly," the salesman said, "I asked myself that. I checked it over and I can't find anything wrong with it."
"At that price," Coxe said, "I'll take it."
lt arrived the following Tuesday. It was plugged in and operated perfectly. Wednesday evening, when he opened the door to chill some beer, there was a package in the freezing compartment. He took out the package. It was some sort of plastic and appeared to contain fish eggs.
Coxe had not seen fish eggs,considered by some a delicacy, for a number of years. He chilled the beer and fried the eggs. Both tasted about right.
The following Friday, his girlfriend came over to fix dinner for him, and when she looked in the freezing compartment, she said, "What's this?"
"Fish eggs," Coxe said. "How many of them?"
"Two packages"
"We'll fry them up for breakfast," he said.
Saturday morning, there were three packages of eggs in the refrigerator.
"Where do they come from" his girlfriend wanted to know.
"They just appear. I ate some and they're very good." "She didn't like the idea, but he talked her into preparing a package. She agreed they were very good."
"What are you going to do about it?" she asked.
"I don't think there's anything to do about it," he said. "I like fish eggs."
On Sunday, the package they had eaten on Saturday had been replaced. They we're coming out at a steady rate of one a day. By Tuesday Code was getting tired of the eggs, and by the end of the week he had four more packages.
He started giving packages to his friends and neighbours. Coxe calculated that at the present rate if he had left the packages in the compartment, it would have been filled by the end of the month.
But by the end of the month the eggs stopped coming. He waited two days. No more came. It was over. He waited two days. No more came. It was over. He ate the last package.
The refrigerator worked perfectly, and he began to stock it with things freezers are usually stocked with.
It was almost two weeks after the last package had appeared, early one Sunday morning, when the doorbell rang. At the door was a small, nondescript man. His head was bandaged.
" Mr. Coxe?" he asked
"That's me"
"May I come in?"
"Come on" .
The man seated himself"something terrible has happened" he said "A horrible mistake has been made."
"I'm sorry to hear that. You look as if you were in an accident."
" I was. I've been in the... hospital... for nearly two months. But to come to the point, Mr Coxe. I've come about the refrigerator you recently purchased. It was a special refrigerator that was sold by mistake "
"Good refrigerator, " Coxe said.
"Perhaps you've noticed... ah... something unusual about it?"
"It runs okay. For a while there were packages of fish eggs in it."
"Fish eggs! "the little man cried in horror. After he had recovered sufficiently he asked, "You do, of course, you do, I'm sure you still have all the... little packages?"
"Oh, no" said Coxe.
"No? Oh, my God. What did you do with them, Mr. Coxe?"
"Ate them"
"You... ate... them? Ate - ? No. You didn't. Not all of them. You couldn't have done that."
"I had to give a lot of them away, and everybody said they were delicious. And really... Uh, Mr...? Mr, uh..."
The little man got unsteadily to his feet. His face was ashen. "This is horrible, horrible." He stumbled to the door, "You are a fiend. All our work... all our plans and you, you..." He turned to Coxe. "I hate you, Mr. Coxe. You'll never realize the enormity of your crime. You've eaten all of us!" With that he slammed the door and was gone.
Coxe went back to the other room.
"Who was it, honey?"
"Ah, some nut. It seems he had first claim on the refrigerator."
"I bet it was about the fish eggs."
"Yeah, he wanted them."
"Oh dear. Do you think he can do anything to us?"
"I don't think so. Not now. It's too late," Coxe concluded. "We ate them all.