Homework, October 16th, 2017

Hi, 

This week I would like you to read the short story below and answer the questions that follow. This is due tomorrow (Tuesday, October 16th). 

Nightmares

I wake with a jolt, as if someone has just switched me on. I am drenched in sweat, I ache all over, and my heart is racing. I sit for a few seconds, desperately trying to calm down. This is the third morning in a row this has happened. Before I have time to think about it anymore, however, Sam floats into the room, arms outstretched, holding a tray with my morning cup of coffee sitting, as always, in the dead centre. I take it and drink.

                ‘Thanks Sam,’ I say.

                ‘You’re welcome,’ she replies. I say she; she’s actually an ‘it’, genderless, but to me there is something feminine about her compassionate manner. I know it is compassion that has been programmed and is therefore not real, but I am convinced that, over the years she has been with me, she has started to develop her own personality. Perhaps I should be scared by that, but I’m not. I can always switch her off if I need to.

                I finish my coffee, then hoist myself out of bed and rub the sleep from my eyes. For a second I am calm, but then I remember the nightmare and begin to worry. The same bad dream three nights in a row can’t be good.

                Sensing my anxiety, Sam enquires, ‘shall I make an appointment for you to see Doctor Wells?’

                ‘Um … yes, actually,’ I reply, ‘thank you.’                                                             

*     *     *

                ‘So, three nights in a row,’ says Doctor Wells. He has a kind face, sandy blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. His voice is soothing, although the soft lighting and comfortable chair with its embracing arms all contribute as well. And then there’s the animated artwork on the walls; there’s something strangely calming about it which I can’t quite explain.  

                ‘Yup,’ I reply.  

                ‘And what happens in this dream?’ he asks.

                ‘It’s scary … people suffering, explosions, people fighting … politicians arguing with each other. It’s like a whole world which is different from ours but somehow familiar, like it’s from a time long ago.’

                ‘Hmm.’ He takes a deep breath.

                ‘What do you think?’ I ask after a few uncomfortable seconds of him not replying.

                Without him saying anything to me, he picks up his telephone. ‘Trisha,’ he says into the receiver. ‘Could you cancel my next appointment please?’ There is a pause while Trisha says something back to him, but I can’t quite make out what it is. ‘Yes,’ he eventually says. ‘The fifth one this week.’ He hangs up. ‘It’s okay,’ he replies, turning to me. ‘Stay calm and look at the painting on the wall opposite you. You feel sleepy. Your eyes are heavy …’

*     *     *

I am coaxed gently out of unconsciousness by the comforting voice of Doctor Wells. ‘It’s okay,’ he says. ‘You’re going to feel slightly disorientated, but that’s normal. Everything is fine.’ His room gradually comes into view.

                ‘What happened?’ I ask, yawning. I feel a little groggy.  

                ‘You came to see me about some bad dreams you were having, but it’s all fine now. Everything is fixed.’

                ‘Oh, right …’ I have a vague memory that I was having nightmares, but I can’t remember what they were about. I sit there for another few minutes while he types on his computer.

                ‘How are you feeling now?’ he asks.

                ‘Fine,’ I reply. ‘Great, in fact.’

                ‘Good. You can go. Just book a follow-up appointment with Trisha on your way out for … let’s say, a week’s time, just so I can make sure you’re still okay, which you will be.’ He smiles.

                I thank him and leave.

*     *     *

When I get home, Sam is waiting for me with dinner on the table. Pasta. Good old Sam, I think to myself. I sit down and begin eating. As always, it’s the best food I’ve ever tasted. But then, something strange happens … an image … in my mind …

1. What is the narrator drenched in when she wakes up?

2. How many mornings in a row has this happened?

3. What does Sam bring for her?

4. What does the narrator say she probably should be scared of, but isn’t?

5. What is the name of the doctor Sam makes an appointment for the narrator to see?

6. What colour is the doctor’s hair?

7. What word is used to describe the arms of the chair in the doctor’s office?

8. Write down one thing that is scary about the dream that the narrator describes.

9. What does the doctor do to make time to hypnotise the narrator?

10. When she wakes up from having been hypnotised, the narrator yawns, then says she feels what?

11. What do you think this word means, based on how it is used in the story?                           

12. After telling the narrator to book a follow-up appointment, what does the doctor say to reassure her?

Extension questions

13. This is a Science Fiction story. Write down one thing about it that fits with the Science Fiction genre.

14. Look at your answer to question 4. Why do you think the writer says she should probably be worried about this?

15. What particular theme does this address?

16. How does the writer create suspense at the very end of the story?

17. There is an example of personification somewhere in the story. See if you can find it and copy it out.

18. This story is deliberately vague about what is actually happening. Why do you think this is?

                                                                                                                                                  

19. What do you think is going on?