Challenge 1086

Circumdance

1. In David August’s Long-Term Effects:

   1. What was the testimony of the three witnesses, and why might the Judge have excluded it?
   2. What are the quality and cost of an N95 mask? Is there an ironic symbolism in the Judge’s wearing such a mask after the ghostly interrogation?

2. In Matthew Harrison’s Fade-Out: What if the fading-out characters’ on-line experience were disrupted by trolls, hostile agents or conspiracy theorists? Would the characters become all the more physically present in the narrator’s experience? What might he do to help them?

3. In Charles C. Cole’s Time to Move On:

   1. Judging by family histories, at least how much time has passed since the narrator and his former adversary graduated from high school?
   2. The old adversary in the automobile speaks of a personal catastrophe as punishment for past misdeeds. Does he apologize to the narrator?

4. In J. C. Miller’s Negative Return:

   1. After two centuries, the returning space travelers find that Earth’s financial system has undergone a series of radical changes. How might Andrew have better protected his financial capital? Was it even possible to do so?

   2. In addition to banking and finance, what else on Earth might have undergone changes while the space travelers were away? How might Andrew have taken such considerations into account for his future return?

5. In Richard Ong’s Requiem for Mrs. Reed:

   1. Who is the story about? What do we learn about the narrator as a student and, later, as an adult?
   2. Do readers learn anything about Amanda Reed as a teacher or person other than that she has a cold at one point?

6. In Ron Sanders’ Midnight Oil:

   1. What might the orange scientist be dripping into the vial of blue liquid? If he drinks it, might he turn green, too? Or might he be preparing some other effect?
   2. What might the sandwich on the table suggest about the action in the scene? How might the tiny spot on it emphasize the sandwich’s effect?
   3. What might the portrait standing on the artist’s easel suggest about what the scientist appears to be doing?
   4. Can “Midnight Oil” be construed as comical? If satirical, what might it satirize?

Responses welcome!

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