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The report’s appearance in a reliable newspaper; its identification of date, location, and other information; and the legalistic adjectives “accused” and “alleged” suggest that it strives to be accurate and objective. And it fundamentally is. But this news story is still a story. Note that certain points of view are better represented than others, and certain details are highlighted, just as in a work of fiction. The news item is based almost entirely on what Kate Uhl asserts, and even the subtitle, “Woman Becomes Desperate,” plays up the “dramatic sequel to the woman’s dilemma.” We don’t know what Mervin Uhl said when he allegedly accused his wife and turned her out of the house, and Bryan Pownall, the murdered man, obviously has no chance to speak in his own defense. Judging from both internal and external evidence, the article reports accurately the husband’s accusation of adultery and the wife’s accusation of rape, but we have no way of knowing, based on the article alone, whose accusations are true. Our everyday interpretation of the stories we hear from various sources—including other people, the Internet, television, newspapers, and ads—has much in common with the interpretation of short stories such as those in this anthology. The processes of carefully and critically reading, responding to, and writing about stories are already somewhat familiar to you. Most readers already know, for instance, that they should pay close attention to seemingly trivial details; they should ask questions and find out more about any matters of fact that seem mysterious, odd, or unclear. Most readers are well aware that words can have several meanings and that there are alternative ways to tell a story. How would someone else have told the story? What are the storyteller’s perspective and motives? What is the context of the tale—for instance, when is it supposed to have taken place and what was the occasion of its telling? These and other questions from our experience of everyday storytelling are equally relevant in reading fiction. Similarly, we can usually tell in reading a story or hearing it whether it is supposed to make us laugh, shock us, or provoke some other response.