A Tax in Blood, by Benjamin Schutz, opens with a visit to the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial. I've already mentioned that in
another post, though.
I want to mention what happens next. A bomb explodes shortly
after Leo, Arnie and Samantha leave, killing, among others, a
child and his mother they had just met, there to see his
uncle's name. Needless to say, this deeply affects the
characters, especially Arnie, who was at the Wall to pay
homage to his fallen comrades.
It occurred to me that terrorism is used here as a modern,
magnified version of the Flitcraft story. Instead of a beam
falling, it is a random bombing. Everyone is forced to
examine his or her life. By the end, though, everyone is
already slipping back into their comfortable patterns, when
bombs stop blowing up.
Mark
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