Here is a small review I did of the original story, which you can read in its original form (a scan of the December 1951 issue of Galaxy Magazine) at https://archive.org/details/galaxymagazine-1951-12.
Well, this is a ridiculous story, but it is nonetheless somehow gripping. So what's ridiculous? Let's start with the premise: a "dark star" passes and snatches Earth out of the sun's orbit. All the air on the planet freezes, in different layers. The narrator of the story is a boy who lives in a tiny room baffled by layers of blanket doors. Every so often a family member goes out to fill a pail full of frozen oxygen and bring it in to melt. Also silly is the sexism, and funny references to the world gone by, and ... Hmph. You just have to accept all that. Keep it in the corner of your vision and agree not to look at it. The funny thing is, if you do that for a while, it all starts to feel more believable.
So what is compelling? Well there's a sense of empty sadness. It reminds me of The Road.
"You know that game we sometimes play, sitting in a square in the Nest, tossing a ball around? Courage is like a ball, son. A person can hold it only so long, and then he's got to toss it to someone else. When it's tossed your way, you've got to catch it and hold it tight -- and hope there'll be someone else to toss it to when you get tired of being brave."
And there's the desciptions of the frozen people, which is sad and creepy.
And then there's how it all ends ...
X Minus One #44
A Pail of Air
28 March 1956
19560328(044)_XMIN_APailOfAir.mp3
NBC net. Richard Hamilton, Rita Lloyd, Ronald Liss, George Lefferts (adaptor), William Welch (producer), Daniel Sutter (director), Eleanor Phelps, Fritz Leiber Jr. (author), Joe DeSantis, Pamela Fitzmaurice, Fred Collins (announcer).
The opening pages of A Pail of Air, Galaxy Magazine, December 1951
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