The organization of this story is chronological. It takes place in a 24 hour period from August 4, 2026 to August 5, 2026. It starts at 7 A.M. with the computer getting everyone up for the day.
"Tick-tock, seven o'clock, time to get up, time to get up, seven o'clock!" (pg 1)
The computer continues to cook breakfast, notify the family of any events that day, tell them what to wear to deal with the weather, and get the children off the school.
At nine-fifteen, the computer mice clean the house.
At ten o'clock the sun came out from behind a cloud, and you could see that this house was the only house that had been left standing after a nuclear event.
At twelve noon, the dog returns with sores on his body and slowly dies. By two-fifteen, the cleaning mice have disposed of his body.
At two thirty-five the bridge tables were set up and at four o'clock they were put away.
And so the day progresses until a bough of a tree crashes into the house and starts a fire. The time of day rules the story. The final lines end August 4th and start a new day.
"Today is August 5, 2026, today is August 5, 2026, today is......" (pg 3)
The computer is repeating itself because the home has been destroyed and the computer is damaged.
No comments:
Post a Comment