 The author's original title for the story was "King Lear, IV, i, 36–37", but Anthony Boucher, editor at the time, suggested a different title, which became "Flies".A group of former college students meet at a reunion twenty years after graduation and discuss their achievements.One of the ex-students, now an animal behaviorist, is tormented by his ability to read the thoughts of his former friends in their small behavioral tics and gestures.