The story exposes the hidden thoughts and fantasies that all people entertain at some time in their life, the dark thoughts of hatred and the secret desire to commit murder. Such thoughts are characteristically set against the darkness of night. Bradbury’s supreme optimism in humanity is evidenced when, in the story, the traveler and the old man do no harm to one another even though the situation is perfect. Here we can see Bradbury’s belief that man is able to suppress his dark thoughts because of his innate morality. Man cannot, however, wholly rid himself of these dark and destructive thoughts. This is depicted through the person of the old man who continues to wait at the station for a victim for a perfect murder even though a perfect opportunity has just passed him by.