THE FUSE

In the summer of 2003, college student Mara Whitefish and her friends venture outside the city to a party at the home of a successful young writer, one of many seizing the advent of online blogs to make a name for himself. Among the guests are people Mara knows well, people she’s only loosely connected to, and people she doesn’t know at all. During the day, a family can be seen in the yard, including two young children running and playing with boundless energy. By evening, the family has left, but playing as Mara, I noticed a new detail had appeared in their absence: a row of miniature animals all carefully placed under a nearby clothesline, “each positioned in line with the greatest deliberation.”