Short Stories by Kurt Vonnegut consists of two science fiction stories including 2 B R 0 2 B and The Big Trip Up Yonder.

2 B R 0 2 B that focuses on a society where individuals have an indefinite lifespan and the population of the United States is limited to forty million. In order for a new birth to take place, someone else must die. The suspense builds as two parents wait for someone to dial 2 B R 0 2 B, which is the telephone number to dial for an assisted suicide with the Federal Bureau of Termination.

The Big Trip Up Yonder is set in 2158 A.D., after the invention of a medicine called Anti-Gerasone, which is made from sawdust and dandelions. Anti-Gerasone halts the aging process and prevents people from dying of old age as long at they keep taking it; as a result, America now suffers from severe overpopulation and shortages of food and resources.