Challenge 634

Beware the Pot of Crock

In Mike Acker’s “On the Green Bridge,” what might the colors signify other than mere family or tribal affiliation?
In Lisl Zlitni’s “Winter Islands”: Who are “I” and “you”? What seems to happen to the pair? What is the role of the Old Norse gods?
In Dylan Henderson’s “The Room Upstairs,” what allegorical connection might there be between the narrator and the corpse he discovers in Mrs. Goldman’s attic?
In Visalakshi Viswanathan’s The Porcelain Urn”:
1. What might indicate that the narrator’s experience in the cave is a dream sequence? What might indicate that it’s conventional fantasy?
2. What is the function of the wedding celebration, at the beginning? In what ways do both the narrator and her husband become comic figures by the end of the story?
In Daniel Finkel’s “The Memory Machine”:
1. What would happen if the magic-lens photographs were somehow lost or destroyed?
2. How might the police or FBI finally establish a connection between some or even all of the the “cold-case” disappearances? If the authorities could believe the magic lens works, on what grounds would the photographer be arrested? If he realized he was being pursued, how could he be apprehended?