A Television Drama

The story starts off with Carolee Mitchell seeing three police cars parked in front of her house, a motorcycle like a slanted stress in the middle of the intersection, and half a dozen of more police cars parked up and down two blocks of her street. She notices that the whole neighbourhood was outside without proper attire for the cold weather. Police officers were telling them to clear the street, and return to their houses but no one seems to be obeying their orders. Carolee believes her street is safe, and it was unlikely that anyone would kill anyone else on the street, where every child had his own bedroom, and most men wither studies or basement workshops to go to. Carolee thinks she should go empty the dishwasher and come back because nothing was really happening. She notices a young man, sitting with his head down on the curve of the laurel hedge by the lily pond. She believes she should call someone but is puzzled who to call. The police was there, so was the ambulance. Later, the television announces that a suspect has been apprehended on. When her husband comes home, she tells him about the guns and the field glasses and dogs and cameras but she didn’t tell him about the hurt man, by the laurel hedge. After watching the news, her perception of the safe street changed and she was afraid. The major theme of the story is media impact because in the beginning she looked at the whole situation as she was watching a television drama, therefore it didn’t seem real to her. But at the end of the story she realised that it wasn’t unreality and she became afraid.