Basic Instructions by Scott Meyer for October 31, 2018

Or, here’s a thought: Take the format of instructions to put, say a TV stand, together, complete with drawings, make it as basic as possible, and call it , “Basic Instructions”.

“The story of a young man who pretends to be a woman to get out of going to war.”?

Odysseus in The Iliad?

“Forbidden Story”.

Robert Heinlein was once asked if it bothered him that the Star Trek episode, “The Trouble with Tribbles” was so similar to the “Flat Cats” in his novel The Rolling Stones. He replied that he’d stolen the idea himself, from the story “Pigs is Pigs”, by Ellis Parker Butler. In another context he wrote: “That’s the way with writers; they’ll steal anything, file off the serial numbers, and claim it for their own.”

So yes, it’s been done before.

Or for a happy ending, they find a nice monkey and settle down.

I just knew this strip’s comments would be filled with nitpickers.

She’s from uptown, he’s from the other side of the underwear tracks…

My ancestors used to pretend to be their fathers, to be too old to get drafted. Worked: I exist!

Sounds like a lousy story.