Challenge 653

Clothes Make the Space Alien

In Rudy Ravindra’s “Cash Cow”:
1. The story is set partly in India, partly in the U.S. Are any of the characters not Indian?
2. How might Rani’s story be interpreted by readers in the U.S. who do not come from India and who are unfamiliar with Indian customs? What might the story mean to readers in India?
In Bruce Pavalon’s “The Cat Came Back”:
1. Anini leaves Aaron in the same snowdrift as in chapter 1. Has their relationship changed in any significant way?
2. What is your impression of Aaron’s personality? Of Anini’s?
In Terry R. Mirll’s “Karat Cake”:
1. What has “Hildy” discovered that enables her to verify Frank’s identity? She seems relatively indifferent to it. In view of episode 4, is she likely to be a friend or foe?
2. Hildy says she is not a doctor or nurse. Why does Frank not ask immediately who she is?
3. Why might Dippy have exchanged clothes with Frank?
In Sean Silleck’s “The Unhappy Life of an Ad Man”:
1. Renee leads David on a death march. How is time compressed? What effects make the action easy to visualize?
2. In what ways is the dead dog necessary to the plot?
3. What makes David’s protestations of repentance seem insincere? What motives might he have for his self-destructive behavior?
4. David’s last words, to the wolves, are: “What took you so long?” What might he have in mind? What might have happened if the wolves had attacked earlier?