Every morning, right on the dot, retired Arthur Wilkes would step onto the porch of his cottage in Devon, only to find the same odd surprise waiting for hima fresh loaf of bread, neatly wrapped in plastic. The packaging bore a label from a shop hed never heard of, the name sounding foreign, almost out of place. It put him on edge straight away.
At first, he reckoned it mightve been a kind gesture from the neighbours. Perhaps someone had noticed he lived alone and thought to lend a hand. He was touched, but something told him not to trust itnothing in life came for free, after all.
The next day, the same thing happened: identical loaf, same wrapping, same spot. Maybe it was some new council scheme for pensioners, he thought. But no one else had mentioned it, and no letter had come through his door.
By the third day, his nerves were frayed. The precision of it unsettled himthe timing, the unfamiliar brand. He grabbed the loaf and marched down to the local Tesco. Catching the eye of the shop assistant, he asked, “You lot delivering bread now? Some sort of promotion?”
She stared at him like hed lost the plot. “No, love, we dont do deliveries like that. You want bread, you come in and buy it.”
Arthur left more confused than ever. The longer he dwelled on it, the more uneasy he felt. What if it was poisoned? What if someone was trying to do him in?
On the fourth morning, he took matters into his own hands. Digging out an old camcorder from the cupboardone hed used years ago for family Christmaseshe set it up to film the porch.
When he played the footage back, his heart nearly stopped. Clear as day, just past four in the morning, a small drone glided silently up to his house, hovered over the step, dropped the bread, and zipped away.
His hands shook as he packed the camera and headed straight to the police station. Showing them the video, he struggled to explain. The officers exchanged glances, and one smirked. “Blimey, mate, youve been roped into an experiment.”
Turns out, some tech startup was trialling a bread delivery service using drones. His address had somehow ended up in their systemall because, a few days prior, Arthur had accidentally clicked an ad while checking the weather on his phone. Without real
