Challenge 788

Simplest Is Best...

1. In Lisa Phipps’ Mandy’s Song:

   1. Why does Keri go to great lengths to disguise herself and hide?

   2. Keri is moved to sing when hearing Sydney Carter’s anthem “Lord of the Dance” (1963). Might the original lyrics — in Joseph Brackett’s Shaker hymn “Simple Gifts” (1848) — be equally or even more more appropriate?

2. In Michael J. Collins’ Red Dancer:

   1. “Chrism” is a clear oil used in the Roman Catholic and Anglican liturgies. Why does the poem make it “red”?
   2. Why might the narrator hear sirens approaching, at the end of the poem?

3. In Channie Greenberg’s The Extraordinary Quality of Happenstances of Small Importance:

   1. Where might Sassafrass’s 90-minute flight from New York City have landed since she has to make a five-hour drive to Toronto?
   2. What else might seem curious about the supposed geography of Ontario?

4. In Scott Jessop’s What’s Coming on the 8:15?:

   1. Is the man in the “simple room” at the opening of the story Ben Fishman, Major Tuttle or somebody or something else?
   2. When the train finally arrives, are the passengers all “zonbi” or only the engineer?
   3. Who has the most likely explanation for the train’s delay?
   
   

   Responses welcome!

   Copyright © December 3, 2018 by Bewildering Stories
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