Tuesday, June 21, 2016

That Strange Place


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 ;)

What if you noticed all sorts of weird goings on near a place you frequent? (Like a neighboring house, that storefront near your favorite coffee shop, a building near your work, a strange apartment building near your kid's school...) By "weird" (and I'm specifying here), I mean people coming in and out at weird times wearing odd clothing (like pantaloons or prairie skirts or horned helmets) and looking lost. What would you think was going on? (I'm asking for a friend...)

19 comments:

  1. I'd say the sale of drugs was involved.

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  2. Is it a Doctor Who convention? (Is my geek showing?) Or is it Doctor Who? =D Think about it, the Tardis is bad at navigation and the occupants are often lost, so it makes perfect sense! LOL

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  3. Some sort of play being practiced for? If you ever find out what is going on, I'd be curious!

    betty

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  4. Sounds like there might be a wormhole involved or maybe the building itself travels between time periods?

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  5. Knowing me...I probably would not have even noticed. as my hubby says, "A 747 could land on our street and you wouldn't know." If I did notice, i would sit back and watch the goings on thinking it might be some Dungeon and Dragons thing going on or some other geek festival. My hubby, having his binoculars out, would be marking down the license plates and contacting the cops

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  6. People leaving their cosplay meetups and wondering where they parked their cars ;)

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  7. We hear weird music coming from a neighbor's house, and his garage is packed to the gills. The renters there smoke so much that there is a brown grime over their door. their only child has played out on the street for 4 years from sun up to sun down. occasional visitors stop by, wife never leaves the house...I don't know...we are moving soon, and won't miss them at all.

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    1. You've got a more interesting story than me...

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  8. I would also think cosplay, and pay it little mind. Beats having neighbors selling drugs, which happened to us a few years ago (there are a couple of rentals on our street) until they disappeared one night, never to be heard of again. Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com

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  9. There was a portal there and the people were from other dimensions.

    But in real life, I'd think they were drugged/druggies.

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  10. I'm sorry to say that drugs came to my mind. Outside of the weird clothing, we've had some suspicious goings-on over the years. I hope you feel better soon!

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    1. Thanks. I'm feeling better today than I did yesterday.

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  11. Drugs!?! Our neighbors are the ones coming and going all hours of the day and night! I used to wonder what they were up to. Then I found out he is a judge and she is a social worker. Probably off to help the 'pitiful' out of their troubles!

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    1. Interesting how many people say drugs. Good to know.

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I appreciate your comments.

I respond to comments* via email, unless your profile email is not enabled. Then, I'll reply in the comment thread. Eventually. Probably.

*Exception: I do not respond to "what if?" comments, but I do read them all. Those questions are open to your interpretation, and I don't wish to limit your imagination by what I thought the question was supposed to be.