# Ernie Meeker — Short Fiction character guide

> Ernie Meeker in Short Fiction by Fritz Leiber.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Ernie, Ernest Wenceslaus Meeker

**First appearance:** 0000-later-than-you-think

## Snapshot

A button man from an art group who insists he believes in monogamy, even as the woman he meets casually inventories her five husbands and their co-wives.

## Who they are

Ernie — called Tom Dorset in the scene — is a button man from an art group, wary of discussing the Vacation Fellowships and their nervous little cabins. He confesses to Lois Wolver that he sometimes wonders if anyone can love anyone, yet protests that he genuinely believes in monogamy. His uneasiness grows as her strange clothes, odd words, and talk of kwives make her seem almost spectral, pulling him toward a group he never expected to meet.

## Relationships

### [Simon Great](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_19_se/characters/simon_great)

_friendship_

Ernie and Simon are close drinking buddies who share a rough camaraderie.

### [Simon Great](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_19_se/characters/simon_great)

_friendship_

Ernie and Simon are close drinking buddies who share a rough camaraderie.

### [Simon Great](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_19_se/characters/simon_great)

_friendship_

Ernie and Simon are close drinking buddies who share a rough camaraderie.

## In the story

### [Bullet with His Name](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_19_se/chapters/bullet-with-his-name)

Protagonist experiencing unsettling mental enhancements and paranoia; discards the blue box and struggles with the implications of the Gifts.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_19_se/characters/ernie_meeker
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_19_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_19_se/characters