A short-story reading companion

You can follow these steps in order or choose a single prompt. A notebook can help, but you do not need to prepare anything before beginning.

1. Read the story once without stopping to explain it. Let the ending arrive before deciding what the beginning means.
2. Choose an object in the story. Notice who handles it, who leaves it behind and whether its meaning changes.
3. Find a moment when a character could have made a different choice. Imagine what that other version would cost them.
4. Discuss one uncertainty with another reader. You do not need to agree about what happens after the last line.
5. Write three sentences from the perspective of a minor character. Keep them separate from the original story: this is your response, not a missing chapter.

Begin with a piece from the journal

• The chair by the window
• The last postcard in the drawer
• A light left on upstairs