I went downstairs to fix a cup of coffee. I needed a break from the word processor; the flow of words had come to a careening halt.
My grandmother was watching television. I heard the voice of Mo Rocca. She was watching CBS Sunday Morning.
He was talking about Grover’s Corners.
“Grover’s Corners,” I thought. “That sounds familiar… What’s it from, what’s it from…” Suddenly I had it!
It was where the Martians landed in Orson Welles’ The War of the Worlds!
Then Mo Rocca started talking about Thornton Wilder. And Our Town.
And then I realized that I had the wrong fucking Grover’s Something-something in my mind.
It was Grover’s Mill where the Martians invaded in 1938.
Then I realized what an awesome literary mash-up this would make — Wilder’s Our Town and Welles’ War of the Worlds.
Emily and George grow up, start a family, and then…
A Martian cylinder lands outside Grover’s Corners!
Then the Martians become sick and die, and this parallels Emily’s own death.
Because that’s what Our Town needs — Martian war machines, death rays, Black Smoke, and rampant destruction. :h2g2: