Whodunit?

At the heart of much speculative fiction (and fiction in general) is a question. What if? On Tuesdays I like to throw one out there and see what you make of it. Do with it as you please. If a for-instance is not specified, feel free to interpret that instance as you wish. And if you find this becomes a novel-length answer, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements ;)

Do you ever watch Masterpiece Classic? There are in the final season of Mr. Selfridge. By the time you read this, the season and the series will be over (although I bet you'll be able to find it on some streaming service eventually). In a recent episode, one of the characters did something that had me scratching my head. So, I thought I'd throw it out there...

What if a long time good friend died under suspicious circumstances? Something has made you suspect another friend of having something to do with it. How would you confront him/her? Would you confront him/her? What would make you think you'd be safe around that person now?

Unforeseen Complications

Last week, I showed you the trial glove for the request I had gotten... 

Today, I totally planned on having the final pair to show off. But things didn't go according to plan.

I bought snaps for the closure on the wrist as that's what the pattern called for. I had the bright idea to finish up both wrist bands and sew on the snaps before finishing off the rest of the glove. This was a brilliant move, but not for the reasons I expected.

See, the snaps did not work.

They looked sloppy...

And when you unsnap them, well, they work, but they feel like they're going to tear off.

It's really hard to show this in a picture, but if I could hand this to you and have you unsnap the snaps, you'd see what I mean.

I tried crocheting a bit more on the ends, but that didn't help. And while I started thinking about what to add to reinforce the snaps, I realized that this was way too much work for something that was supposed to be an afterthought at the end of the project.

This is why trying this now was brilliant. I would have lost my mind if I had finished two whole gloves and the snaps didn't work.

Using buttons was suggested. It meant I had to start over, because I would have to put a buttonhole in the wrist band. But as I hadn't gotten much further than the wrist band anyway...

Ah, much better! Of course, that means that I spent Saturday redoing wrist bands rather than finishing gloves. And that means I have no finished gloves to show you (as they haven't been finished yet). But there's always next week.

* * *

And finally, one month short of a year ago, I shared my sister-in-law's GoFundMe with you all. From that post:

Heather, my sister-in-law, was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in April 2012. She has an aggressive form of MS, and she needs help for her best treatment option... (Go here for the full post.)

That took her to Panama in July of last year. Since then, I've been trying to get her to do another interview to update you all as to her progress, but with one thing and another...

The GoFundMe has been updated this weekend with what's going on right now...

Short version:
Heather’s health has rapidly declined over the past 4 months. She is currently back in Panama getting another round of stem cell treatments. She’s been there for a week and will be down there for a total of 3 weeks.  

Full update:
February was 6 months from the stem cell treatment in Panama. A routine MRI was scheduled to keep tabs on Heather’s progress. When she got a call from her doctor and was asked to come in for the results, we knew there was a problem.  

The MRI showed that she still only had the one lesion on her pituitary gland, but there were indications that something much worse was ahead. What her doctor saw was the precursor to something called Schilder’s disease. This is an extremely rare type of MS that has only been diagnosed in 99 people in 100 years. Heather became number 100... (Go here for the full update.)

If you could share Heather's story with your social networks, they would greatly appreciate it.

The Mess

I've seen these things on the campuses for a while. Most of this school year, in fact. It's a snack size plastic bag full of red goo. And the students eat this stuff. 

In class. 

I clamp down on them when I see them. Because it's food and they're not supposed to be eating in class. And, it's a big, gooey mess. 

(Students eating in class is generally a bad idea, because they tend to leave their trash everywhere. Add in sticky red goo...) 

So, of course, naturally, some boy managed to get a big red blob on a desk. I made him clean it up, which was difficult as there were no paper towels in the room. Luckily, it was passing period. (This was the only reason he had the mess out in the first place.) 

As I had a captive audience (as he took out a sheet of notebook paper to sub in for a paper towel), I finally had a chance to ask my burning question: What the heck is that stuff? 

It's gummy worms in a slightly moistened Kool-Aid mix. 

I looked it up. Apparently, it's a thing. You can find the recipe online... 

So, um, yeah. If you're into that sort of thing, try it out. Although, I wouldn't recommend it. Not unless you don't mind red sticky fingers and goo that gets everywhere.

Where You At?

Last week, I talked about Alec not being able to log into Odyssey to do his assignments. I thought it went without saying, but some of the comments made me rethink my position. Alec did not forget his birthday. He was trying to get out of doing anything by playing at not being able to log in. Little did he realize that I'm the type of sub who will find a way...

One of the issues with Odyssey is that it "locks out" the students periodically. It's either the "test" assignment or the student has to redo something before they can move on. This is not a big deal for the teacher, as she can just go in and fix the issue so the students can continue working.

However, when there's a sub who doesn't have access, the students can get "locked out" and be stuck. For an entire period (or, in this case, two). Which is bad news for the sub, as the students tend to get into mischief when they have nothing to occupy their time.

Earlier this school year, Ms. R taught me how to override many of the lockouts. So, when the students actually got to work and found the usual issues, I went to work making sure they could continue (and not slip onto slither.io).

In the second hour (they have her for two periods), the lockouts started to mysteriously disappear. Ms. R, in her lesson plan, had said she'd clear things from home, but when she wasn't doing that in the first hour, I did. When I realized that she was doing that, I logged off.

Alec was flummoxed, though. It was clear Ms. R was doing this, as she was sending all the students messages (telling them what they got wrong so they could fix it).

Alec demanded to know where she was. I told him to ask her. So, he typed in: wya

Me: Does she know what that means?

Alec: Probably not.

Me: Then you'd better explain.

Alec (typing): where you at

Ms. R (message): At home. Sick.

The next day, I saw Ms. R, and we discussed the class. She told me she had planned on clearing out the Odyssey lockouts, but she fell asleep and didn't wake until the second hour. Then we got to Alec.

I was right. She had no idea what "wya" meant. She only responded because he clarified. For some reason, she was impressed that I had been standing over him during that whole exchange.

This is when she told me that Alec had turned in a lot of assignments that day. So, apparently once he gets started, he makes progress.

I learned something important that day (for the next time I cover these classes): the password to log them into Odyssey is the same password they use to log them onto the computer. (So, since Alec could get on the computer, he was totally faking not knowing his password for Odyssey.)

Two Weeks Later

Remember "More Non-Readers"? I was scheduled to cover the same class. Again, we were on block schedule, so I again had second period for two hours.

Oh, you should have seen the look on their faces when I got there... Priceless. (This is good. It means they know I'll enforce rules. Ernesto groaned. "We won't be allowed to talk.")

The assignment: write book reports for the books they were reading last time.

We went over the book report form. I gave them some time to "discuss". Then, just as I was about to call for silence, the fire alarm went off.

Seriously?

"Fire alarm? We have to evacuate." Ernesto was eager to go. In fact, in less than a minute, the entire class was gone.

I lingered. First, I needed to grab the class roster and the evacuation envelope. Second, most of the classes in my immediate vicinity weren't evacuating. This wasn't the school with the fire alarm glitch, but I recognized the lack of movement. Sure enough, other teachers were urging everyone to get back inside.

(The PA speaker in the classroom was broken. A neighboring teacher told me the "do not evacuate" announcement had been made.)

It wasn't long before kiddos returned. All of them. There's a point when it's obvious that the alarm was false.

Ernesto: "Why are you angry? It wasn't our fault..."

Funny that he would think me angry. At that point, I was just trying to get their attention back so that I could get them back to the task at hand.

At least they got a bit of a break before they had to buckle down and get to work.

Talking to Gravity

At the heart of much speculative fiction (and fiction in general) is a question. What if? On Tuesdays I like to throw one out there and see what you make of it. Do with it as you please. If a for-instance is not specified, feel free to interpret that instance as you wish. And if you find this becomes a novel-length answer, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements ;)

On The Flash a couple weeks ago, Barry Allen ended up "inside" the "speed force"... Okay, it's kind of a long story, especially if you don't watch the show.

At one point, Barry talked to this personification of the "speed force" and likens the idea to talking to light or gravity. And that got me thinking...

What if some of the fundamental forces and phenomena were like modern gods? Like, there was a Light or a Gravity that one could find? (I was trying to think of some others. Sound? Magnetism? The strong or weak atomic forces?) What would they be like? How would they interact with us? With each other?

A Request

At the last farmers market I attended (on Mother's Day)...

I received a request. One of the other vendors had seen something on Pinterest that she just had to have.

So, after some searching, I found the pattern on Etsy. (I wouldn't recommend this pattern, by the way.) I just finished the first one on Saturday...

And I let her try it on on Sunday...

I need to make a couple modifications, and then it'll be done. (So, I'll be making two more in addition to the one I made just to try out the pattern.)

I never would have even looked twice at this if she hadn't requested it. It was kind of fun once I got the hang of it.

The Almost Graduate

For helping with state testing week at the continuation high school, I spent the afternoons covering the special ed. resource room. (Mornings were for testing. Afternoons, the kiddos who weren't testing showed up to have a "normal" school day.) Which meant helping students with work from various other classes.

Taylor was in class for two periods. She had one credit to finish. That is, she was one credit shy of graduating.

The credit was in math.

How much work makes up a credit depends on the teacher. For math, it was a few assignments. Five? Seven? Something like that.

For three days, Taylor sort of kind of worked toward that credit. This was the continuation high school, so she needed a push to stay on task. Was easily distracted. And since she's also special ed., she needed extra help.

Help I could provide. Because math.

On day 2 (Wednesday), her neighbor introduced her to the app that does problems for you. You type in the problem, and it solves it for you. With all the steps.

But we didn't need to do that, I argued. This was going to be the last thing she learned in high school. Why not actually learn it?

We struggled through that worksheet. Multi-step solving-for-x problems.

On day 3, she was two assignments shy of completing her credit. We spent much of the time on one of them. It was on graphing.

We didn't get a chance to finish the last assignment. But it looked like she'd finish up and graduate on Friday the 13th. (She argued that perhaps she should aim for the next week. I explained that I've always had pretty good luck on Friday the 13th, so it would be an auspicious day to get her diploma.)

The testing only went for four days, but the teacher I had worked with all week needed to take Friday off, so I ended up covering her classes. Second period, the special ed. teacher walked in with Taylor.

The teacher explained that as things had gone so well all week with Taylor, Taylor had requested my help with that last assignment.

I got the class started on their work, and then I sat with Taylor. It took the whole period, but we finished that assignment.

In the next hour, the announcement went out over the school's PA that Taylor had graduated. (There were actually four graduations that day.) So, success.

Many of the posts I do that center on the continuation high school (well, many of the posts I do) center on a kiddo's bad behavior. Because that makes for a more interesting story. But while all of that is happening, there are those that get through and get done. Because that's the point of it all, anyway.

Testing Evidence

Test proctor is one of my favorite subbing gigs, so I was happy to get the call to help with state testing at the continuation high school last week. I was assisting another teacher. (She did the heavy lifting. I was the extra set of eyes to make sure the kiddos behaved.)

Wednesday was math day. So, everyone got a piece of scratch paper on which to work out the problems.

Test security is a big deal. There are protocols to be followed. They are very particular about keeping track of testing materials.

Scratch paper is considered testing material. At the end of the testing session, it has to be collected and returned to the site's testing administrator.

Two girls had finished their tests. Logged off and shut down the computer. So, with nothing to do, they started to talk.

No talking allowed during testing!

With no electronic devices allowed (we had collected their cell phones), they resorted to some old school texting. They grabbed the closest sheet of paper and wrote notes back and forth.

I probably should have warned them. But they were finally being quiet. And a little devil inside of me knew I was going to enjoy this next bit.

As expected, once they finished their "conversation" they went to get rid of the evidence. They headed for the trash. Of course, I intercepted them.

Oh, the look on their faces when they realized I was not going to let them just throw out that scratch paper.

I explained that it was testing material. I had to turn it in. It had to be accounted for. (I did not tell them that it would just be shredded without anyone actually looking at it.)

They turned it over. I put it in the testing box with all the other collected scratch paper. And I didn't bother to uncrumple it.

After they left, I did look. Because, really. You would have!

Apparently, neither girl anticipated "getting any" that night.

Forgotten Birthday

Last week, I was back at the continuation high school. It's state testing time, and I had been contracted to help. They did the testing in the morning, and then in the afternoon the students who weren't being tested showed up to have a "normal" school day. (As normal as it could be at a different time and missing half the students.) 

On Monday, I covered the afternoon classes of a teacher who was out sick. The orientation classes. 

Unsurprisingly, the students who weren't testing arrived wound up and not in a working mood. Since I was going to have them for two hours, this wasn't going to fly. The first thing I had to do was clamp down on them and get them on task. 

"I'm done." 

There is no "done". Not in orientation. Sure, Alec might have completed the "orientation" portion of the curriculum, but when that happens, the teacher assigns the students work for other classes. If they weren't missing credits from classes they should have already passed, they never would have been enrolled at this school. 

Alec claimed he could prove it. Okay, then. Only, he had trouble logging onto the program. 

He put in his username. Typed in a 6-digit password. Got an error message. Rinse. Repeat. 

I went into problem solving mode. Had he written down the password? No. And he couldn't recall it. 

Alec explained that he had done so much weed he couldn't now retain information like passwords. (He's 16.) He told me the teacher usually had to log him in. 

Desperate (there was no way I was letting him play slither.io for two hours), I called the counselor, hoping she had the passwords. 

She did. Turns out, the password is his birthday. Which she rattled off for me. 

I went back to Alec. Told him his password was his birthday. He typed in 6 digits again and still got an error message. He tried this a few more times... 

Okay, let me try... 

And I logged him in, first try. 

And... he was not finished with his assignments. Naturally. 

(Funnily enough, Alec got quite a lot accomplished that day, according to his teacher. I talked to her the next day. She was able to monitor what they were doing at home, but that's a whole 'nother blog post.)

Cloned

At the heart of much speculative fiction (and fiction in general) is a question. What if? On Tuesdays I like to throw one out there and see what you make of it. Do with it as you please. If a for-instance is not specified, feel free to interpret that instance as you wish. And if you find this becomes a novel-length answer, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements ;)

Sue had an interesting comment about last week's what if about the idea that for transporter technology to work, it would have to kill the current you and make an exact copy of you someplace else. She said:

I rather guess it depends on how much you feel you have to lose. If I could pop in one end diseased and unwell and then die and pop out the other end disease free, well that sounds tempting. 

Which got me thinking. That's an interesting point. And that, in turn, led to this week's what if...

What if there was a way to make a more perfect you--a kind of android clone? And you could be uploaded into that body. But the old body would have to die (be killed) first. Would you take the upgrade? (Would it be an upgrade?)

Beanie in the Branches

Back in January, I started showing off my backdrop (updating its progress almost weekly). At the same time, I showed the beginning of another project.

I didn't say much more about this at the time. It was an idea I had for a beanie that I wanted to try to get published via an online magazine. (They have a strict "do not post pictures online" policy on submissions.)

Alas, I got word this week that the pattern was rejected. On the bright side, that means I can now show you what it was I was working on...

I had to give it a name, so I called it "Beanie in the Branches". Can you see the trees?

Now that it's my own again (so to speak), I'll probably publish the pattern via my Ravelry page and maybe Etsy. At some point. (The pattern's already written up. It's just a matter of formatting now.) Maybe closer to fall.

What do you think? I rather like it, but I'm biased. And does anyone have a better name for the thing? I'm not too fond of mine.

Repeat Performance

I was kind of blindsided by the assignment. I probably could have declined, but part of me was curious. It had been about six months since I'd see them last. Well, not all of them. Let me back up a bit...

Those of you who have been with me for a while may recall #That8thGradeSciClass. They're the group I had for two days in October, but they generated 10 blog posts that I ran one a week until almost Christmas. This was that class. (In case you want to revisit those posts, they're here.)

I have seen many of them in other classes throughout the year. I've covered their math classes. Their English classes. Their history classes. I even ran into a few of them in P.E. And art. That's how things go when you sub at the same schools for any length of time.

But all together in this group... Yeah, not looking forward to it.

So, I was so grateful when I saw the lesson plan was a video. Whew. Easy enough. I knew I'd have to keep after them to keep them settled, but at least they didn't have a project to go crazy over.

Only, the video wasn't there.

via GIPHY

It was supposed to be on the laptop. But I could not find it. And, knowing what I was in for, I panicked.

Then I did the right thing. I called for help.

The secretary sent me the tech guy. And the tech guy (who is a total rock star!) managed to find the video under the teacher's log on, and he retrieved it for me.

via GIPHY

He totally saved my butt. Because 8th graders (especially these 8th graders) with a thrown together by me assignment on a Friday...

I don't even want to think about it.

So, yeah, they were their usual selves. Two periods didn't have enough time to finish the 46 minute video in a 58 minute period due to taking that long just to settle down enough so I could explain that they had to take notes and they had to watch the video and pay attention. (You'd think this would go without saying, but it doesn't.)

Deep sigh. At least the day went better than I anticipated. Perhaps they've grown up a little? Nah...

More Non-Readers

English class. The assignment: read the book they had selected for a book report.

I like these sorts of plans. (Their teacher does this because he's fairly certain they aren't doing the reading at home. They're freshmen, so that's a good assumption.) In an ideal world, I'd get to pull out a book and read along with them. But this isn't an ideal world.

They whined and complained. They hated their book. (Then pick another one! The book is student choice, so they could pick something they'd like that fit the parameters.)

Ernesto wasn't going to read. The first thing he asked me was if they were going to get a break. (My "no" elicited a "bitch" remark from another student. Second time in two weeks.) Apparently, his settling down to read was contingent on knowing the reading would be broken up somehow.

Ernesto did eventually get silent. It's easy to tell which classes normally read quietly. They're the ones I can settle to silence with minimal effort (and a warning that the names of those that refuse to comply will be left).

But Ernesto refused to read.

I know this, because he barely glanced at his book. He fidgeted. Did all the annoying things kiddos do--drop noises, the requisite restroom break, significant looks at his neighbors (in communication). In short, he did anything and everything he could do while not talking (and not pulling out his cell phone) to entertain himself besides read the book in front of him.

Which is why I couldn't sit and read with them. It felt like the only thing keeping him from beginning to talk (well, it did stop the drop noises) was my attention on him. My glare. That he saw that I was watching him. Him and the about one-third of the class who were engaged in similar behaviors.

Either that, or they kept pulling my attention. There was no way I could get immersed in any story.

This makes me cranky.

And when I'm cranky, I express my displeasure in my note. With names.

It's small comfort. But then again, I've met this teacher. I don't imagine they're going to enjoy the consequences of their actions.

The Stench

It happens in middle school classrooms with alarming regularity. Someone farted.

You know how you react when that happens in your vicinity? Multiply that by a factor of 13-year-old hormones.

Also, this class was on warning. This was a Monday. On Friday with the previous well-respected sub, they had been so unruly that two teachers on opposite sides of the hall could hear the class. With their doors closed.

Yeah, so a smelly event was the last thing this group needed.

I had the usual loud complaints. The two students who had to jump out of their seats and flee. One girl even went outside. And recriminations at the culprit.

At least that boy was sitting near a door. We opened that. The air conditioning was on, so we had air flow.

Still, getting them to settle back down...

Middle school. Always an adventure.

One Little Drawback

At the heart of much speculative fiction (and fiction in general) is a question. What if? On Tuesdays I like to throw one out there and see what you make of it. Do with it as you please. If a for-instance is not specified, feel free to interpret that instance as you wish. And if you find this becomes a novel-length answer, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements ;)

About two months ago, io9 posted a couple videos...

(Briefly, those transporters on Star Trek may work by killing you in one place and creating a new you in a second place.)

Which got me thinking...

What if you (or your team) developed this technology (that had this one drawback...)? Would you tell people how it actually worked? Would you be willing to use it yourself?

That Cheating X and a Bunch of Yahoos

This was my fourth year doing the A to Z Challenge. Like every prior year, my "theme" was business as usual, just fitting what I'd normally write to the letter of the day. 

I made two modifications for the A to Z, though. I add a picture on Saturdays (I don't normally post on Saturdays), and I plan out my Tuesday what ifs early on. (This year I was late and I didn't have them figured out until mid March.) Because Z fell on a Saturday, I knew I'd work in a picture of my business, Zizi Rho Designs, somehow. 

So, besides those two exceptions, my plan for A to Z was to go to work and wait for something interesting to happen. (Considering this has worked out for me in the past, I wasn't too worried that it would work for me this year.) 

Then I just had to figure out how to make that "interesting thing" fit the letter of the day. Since I write my posts for the week over the previous weekend, I had a few days to ponder how to get things to work. 

It's a magical moment when I finish my last post for April. Although, by "finish", I mean the moment when I know what that last post is going to be. (Sitting down and writing it is kind of an afterthought.) 

It was the penultimate Friday of April. I had Mr. C's English classes, and things were going well. Which did not bode well for a sub looking for blog fodder. 

I had lucked out the previous day. I had to cheat a bit to get an X title, but as the incident involved cheating, I was stoked. I love it when things work on multiple levels. 

But Friday was going smoothly. And then 4th period walked in. There were three boys... 

After the conversation that formed the post, I sat back down at the teacher's desk. I looked back over at the boys, still not working, and I thought, "What a bunch of yahoos..." 

And I quickly clamped my hands over my mouth as the laughter burst from me. Because kiddos already think I'm strange (I'm a sub, after all), and bursting into laughter when nothing was happening is a little disturbing. 

Yahoos... starts with Y... 

It was in that moment that I knew. I was done! All that remained was in typing it up. 

So, now I wonder if I'll attempt it next year. Keeping up with comments is time consuming. I debate. 

By the end of the Challenge, I was number 165 on the list. I got to blog #350. I did skip some (those that had stopped doing the challenge, those that I had nothing to say to, those that I was already following, and a couple others that irked me for some undefinable reason). Of those I visited, 103 never once commented back. (I followed every blog I left a comment on. It made it easier to find them again when they would comment back.) 

I know it's difficult to keep up. And my blog is not for everyone. So, I understand. But I wasn't going to worry about keeping up with blogs that didn't reciprocate. 

However, of the bunch that I did comment on, 75-ish responded back. Only a couple of those visited me first. Mostly, every repeat commenter I gained was someone I visited first. This is my observation for the month. 

In the back of my mind, though, I'm wondering about X. How might I deal with X if I do the Challenge next year? 

Which leads to a question for the organizers of this thing. April 2017 has 5 Sundays. Which gives us 25 non-Sunday days. One less than the letters of the alphabet. How fix? Skip X? Or which Sunday gets pulled in for the Challenge? (The first Sunday is the 2nd, the last Sunday is the 30th.)

Small Group

Fridays at the continuation high school are a bit different. Looser. Students who attended Monday through Thursday can "buyout", so classes are smaller. And the students are less willing to do anything productive.

I expect smaller groups, but still I was surprised when only one student showed up for third period (out of 15). Um...

The lesson plan was one I had done before. Since class discussion was required, I figured it wouldn't work with one student. So, I gave him permission to find somewhere else to be. Until a second student arrived (late).

I could do the lesson with two students...

They were not happy with me. But I insisted. And things went better than I expected.

Turns out, it's easier to put students on the spot and make them talk when there's only two of them. At least sometimes.

Extra Credit Agar.io

Computer class at the continuation high school. Same class as X, interestingly enough. They had work to do. And as per normal, some made better use of their time than others.

5th period, however... 

Most didn't even make an attempt at starting any work. They immediately logged onto agar.io. And the newest game from them... slither.io. Oh, joy. (Although, it's not like I haven't encountered this sort of thing before.)

Well, of course I clamped down on that quick. Told them to get on task... 

"This is extra credit. Mr. M counts it. Really." 

Um, yeah. Right. Sure. 

But they weren't going to budge, so I did what I usually do in this instance. I took down names. Along with their lie. 

I ran into Mr. M the next day. Laughed about the lie. He said he can block sites. I have a feeling I will no longer have issues with the game. Kind of hard when the game is blocked...

via GIPHY

Rhymes with Witch

The lesson plan contained subtle clues that led me to believe that the class might not be all that cooperative. Things like: "Make sure they remain in their assigned seats". Okay then.

So, I made sure to check the seating chart carefully. As things were getting started, one girl stood up and made her way across the room... 

"Back to your assigned seat, please."

She turned. Headed back to her seat. Muttered something... Something about a bitch... 

*Ahem* 

Moments later, I received a slip asking me to send that girl to the office. Happily, I sent her out. 

But she returned. *Deep sigh*  I let her know I heard her comment from before she left. 

"I wasn't talking to you..." 

She explained she was referring to her friend. The friend called her over, and somehow my telling her to go back to her seat became a reason to call her friend a name.

Okay. Fine. We'll go with that story, and I let it drop.

But now she needed to make sure I fixed the note. Names in note get serious consequences. 

I was busy. But she followed up several times. She hadn't been talking to me, so the incident needed to be expunged. 

Thing is, I don't believe her. 

But, I made a "correction" note anyway. I wrote her explanation next to my note.

I'll meet her again eventually in some class or other. Better to try to make nice in hopes of her future cooperation. Besides, I didn't delete the note. I just let her have her say as well.

A Small Lie

At the heart of much speculative fiction (and fiction in general) is a question. What if? On Tuesdays I like to throw one out there and see what you make of it. Do with it as you please. If a for-instance is not specified, feel free to interpret that instance as you wish. And if you find this becomes a novel-length answer, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements ;)

I ran across an article that was posted to Facebook all about lies that people told. It's pretty funny, so I'm going to recommend you check it out. I'll wait...

Back? Okay, then. That's what prompted today's question...

What if that small, innocuous lie you told suddenly went out of control? Would you fess up? Or would you continue the charade?