Sunday, March 26, 2017

50,000 Marks

In the dream, we are all in a house that is trying to kill us. One by one it picks us off with trap doors, electrical grids, swinging bludgeons and shadowy figures who drop from ceilings and pop from behind false wall panels to pull their prey to oblivion.

The worst is when Sean is taken and then, some minutes later, tossed back at us, crashing through a glass door to lie bloodied and gurgling on the floor. When I go to him, he says:

"Don't worry - it's just special effects. It's all a TV show."

Baffled, I look up to see with my mind's eye that a well-muscled black woman is leaping through a series of glassless windows in another part of the house, bouncing like a gazelle in free fall. She pulls a lever and suddenly the walls pull away to reveal the film crew that's been monitoring our every move.

Those of us that had been killed by the house are hale and hearty, well-dressed and made up, congratulating each other on their winnings now that the ruse has been revealed. My own performance was top-tier; I finished fourth, earning 50,000 Marks, enough in this world for a comfortable early retirement.

*   *   *

Clearly I've been watching too much Black Mirror; fans will recognize elements from two or three different Black Mirror episodes. Imagine a world in which reality show producers can terrorize their contestants without legal repercussions, all for the sake of entertainment and money! 

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