Freaky Foreshadowing Roald Dahl uses foreshadowing that creates an anxious and mysterious mood to effectively create a short story. As the landlady prepares Billy’s tea, he smells something peculiar emanating from her, like “pickled walnuts….or the corridors of a hospital?” (Dahl 68). The smell of pickled walnuts means that the landlady uses formaldehyde, which is used to preserve dead bodies. The smell of formaldehyde foreshadows that she might use it on Billy, to preserve his body. The landlady smelling of preservatives and hospitals establishes a mysterious atmosphere; leaving the readers unsure of what the landlady is up to. When the landlady offers Billy more tea, he politely declines because the tea tasted “faintly of bitter almonds,