# Ray Pelton — Short Fiction character guide

> Ray Pelton in Short Fiction by H. Beam Piper.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Pelton, Raymond Pelton, young Ray Pelton

**First appearance:** 0024-time-crime

## Snapshot

A fifteen-year-old who can taste the difference between real butter and synthetic, and worries about the cost of both, even as his father runs for Senate.

## Who they are

Ray Pelton is the son of a wealthy department-store magnate and senatorial candidate, a boy who devours real eggs and bacon while calculating exactly what they cost. He idolizes the wrong neighbor, a Literate named Jimmy Hartnett, and bristles at his father's snobbery even as he inherits the Pelton instinct for a bargain. His hunger—for food, for status, for the forbidden—makes him the family's most restless member and the first to sense that the world outside their pantry is changing.

## Relationships

### [Frank Cardon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_24_se/characters/frank_cardon)

_friendship_

Frank Cardon and Ray Pelton are close friends and fellow soldiers, sharing a camaraderie forged in battle.

### [Claire Pelton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_24_se/characters/claire_pelton)

_family_

Claire Pelton and Ray Pelton are siblings, with a protective and sometimes strained familial bond.

### [Doug Yetsko](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_24_se/characters/doug_yetsko)

_friendship_

Doug Yetsko and Ray Pelton are close friends and comrades, sharing a deep loyalty and mutual support.

### [Claire Pelton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_24_se/characters/claire_pelton)

_family_

Claire Pelton and Ray Pelton are siblings, with a protective and sometimes strained familial bond.

### [Frank Cardon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_24_se/characters/frank_cardon)

_friendship_

Frank Cardon and Ray Pelton are close friends and fellow soldiers, sharing a camaraderie forged in battle.

### [Frank Cardon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_24_se/characters/frank_cardon)

_friendship_

Frank Cardon and Ray Pelton are close friends and fellow soldiers, sharing a camaraderie forged in battle.

### [Doug Yetsko](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_24_se/characters/doug_yetsko)

_friendship_

Doug Yetsko and Ray Pelton are close friends and comrades, sharing a deep loyalty and mutual support.

### [Claire Pelton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_24_se/characters/claire_pelton)

_family_

Claire Pelton and Ray Pelton are siblings, with a protective and sometimes strained familial bond.

### [Doug Yetsko](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_24_se/characters/doug_yetsko)

_friendship_

Doug Yetsko and Ray Pelton are close friends and comrades, sharing a deep loyalty and mutual support.

## In the story

### [Chapter I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_24_se/chapters/i)

Chester Pelton's son, also rumored to be a Literate; present during the political discussions.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_24_se/chapters/ii)

Mentioned as Claire's younger brother, also Literate, proposed for admission as Literate Novice.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_24_se/characters/ray_pelton
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_24_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_24_se/characters