55 Comments
User's avatar
Stephanie Marie's avatar

This is so fun! My best guess is that you can't be "Conscious" of anything if you're not awake. 🤷‍♀️ Also, only way I could make sense of him dying in real life from a dream is a heart attack or stroke and both of those would definitely wake him up. So, simply falling dead in the pew seems like an impossibility.

Rea de Miranda's avatar

Wrong answer Stephanie! You can have a heart attack and die without waking up. 😊

Stephanie Marie's avatar

Oh man! This is hard but I know once I find out the answer it will feel so obvious!

Rea de Miranda's avatar

It is obvious, but everything is a distraction.

Chris Keller's avatar

I am totally fascinated by this question. I cannot decide if it is the falsehood that his wife wouldn't notice that he was asleep as he lay nearly horizontal, because it seems she woulds have noticed earlier, or is there enough space to be nearly horizontal in repose? Most of the churches I have been in would allow for this position, unless his forehead was on the pew in front. But I am dying to know...not like in a dream, but you know.

Rea de Miranda's avatar

The falsehood is that he died while dreaming of the guillotine. How could anyone know his dream? Thanks for playing Chris! :)

Chris Keller's avatar

The omniscient narrator knows all, sees all, and tells us what she wants us to read.

Rea de Miranda's avatar

You made me laugh Chris. 😊

Mark Farley’s wandering’s's avatar

I believe that “Fatal Plank” was another term for “walking the Plank”. But I have no idea what the plank was called on the guillotine!

Rea de Miranda's avatar

Wrong answer Mark! 😊

Mark Farley’s wandering’s's avatar

Thanks, I’ll continue pondering! Take care …

Rea de Miranda's avatar

See you later Mark...

Jenny Blue's avatar

I’m no genius but how could a closed fan (or even a fan) provide a death by guillotine. Was he already dead from heat exhaustion? Maybe the tap just gave his limp body a final roll forward.

Rea de Miranda's avatar

Remember, he was dreaming, and the fan must have felt like the blade coming down? I am not supposed to give you clues Jenny! :)

Jenny Blue's avatar

Okay okay :) I’m not trying to get all David Lynch but is this a dream sequence? I read it top to bottom and bottom to top. Seems more of an allegory. Was the fan a metaphor for impending death and the tap the reality of death already? I’m lost but I love it. I feel like I’m driving up Mulholland Drive.

Rea de Miranda's avatar

You are getting closer! :) I am happy you are enjoying it, Jenny.

Jenny Blue's avatar

I’ll give it another go after some sleep :)

Rea de Miranda's avatar

You will get it just before you fall asleep Jenny!

Jenny Blue's avatar

I feel like the answer is in here “He was laid on the fatal plank and was so horribly conscious of the blade being about to fall that he felt a stinging sensation on the back of his neck.” Beyond that, you got me, Rea 😅

Jenny Blue's avatar

He was dreaming. The two can’t be interrelated, meaning, dreaming and being horribly conscious can’t coexist.

Rea de Miranda's avatar

Check your DM, Jenny.

Rea de Miranda's avatar

He died while asleep. Can the story be true?

Mike's avatar

Wouldn't he be lying on his back looking up at the guillotine?

Rea de Miranda's avatar

Wrong answer Mike! Can you imagine seeing that blade come for you?

Mike's avatar

Interesting! This gives lie to one of my favorite jokes about engineers:

Three men are led to the guillotine. A priest, a deacon, and a mechanical engineer.

The two holy men are first to face the blade.

When it approaches the priest the blade somehow gets stuck half way down. The murderers think, 'well, maybe this is a man of God? We should let him go'. And so he walks

The same thing happens with the deacon.

But when the mechanical engineer is lying there, looking up at the deadly machine, he says, "Wait! I see what the problem is..."

Rea de Miranda's avatar

This made me laugh, Mike! He could have saved himself.

Adrian's avatar

I enjoyed this story. The added element of a puzzle was also enjoyable. You distract people with the guillotine, the blindfold and the fan. I believe the answer somewhat simpler, in most churches the pews are too close together for the man to be asleep in the position described

Rea de Miranda's avatar

Wrong answer Adrian, but you make a good point. :)

Meredith ♾️'s avatar

He wasn't killed by the fan. What killed him was the thought of the guillotine coming down.

Rea de Miranda's avatar

Wrong answer Meredith! :)

Meredith ♾️'s avatar

now you’ve got me intrigued…

Rea de Miranda's avatar

If you really think about it, it is quite obvious. :)

Virginia Curtis's avatar

Clever! I like it. We can't know anyone's dreams if they're deceased.

Naz.'s avatar

His wife's fan killed him! She was the killer.

Rea de Miranda's avatar

What an awful wife! 😅

Andrew Lynch's avatar

Maybe I’m way off here, but my guess is that he didn’t die. He just fell down when the tapped him with the fan

pen n. bolsillo's avatar

surely, he had his prayers answered. :) i love this, btw...

Rea de Miranda's avatar

Thank you Pen 😊

Harriet Corvine's avatar

Got a heart attack from the realistic sensation on his neck and died of a lie

Rea de Miranda's avatar

Wrong answer Harriet. He was asleep, remember?

Harriet Corvine's avatar

It’s ok. I didn’t try to answer your question. Just said what came to my mind. :)

Rea de Miranda's avatar

I know Harriet. 😊

Daniel O’Donnell's avatar

So, I reckon the man is dreaming of being in church with his wife and he is in fact on the guillotine and getting his head chopped off. When the blade falls he also dies in his dream 💀 😁

Rea de Miranda's avatar

Hahaha that's a good one Daniel! But, you are wrong! 😆

Debra Martin's avatar

Could it be that space between- The body goes limp but the mind in dream state sets the stage for the events to play out. The blindfold is metaphorical. His wife blinded by the fan, the sermon and the heat. He blinded within his own thoughts of what his death should have looked like, more heroic than heat stroke.

The tap on the back of the neck- He severed from his body (his soul now free)

Rea de Miranda's avatar

Great comment Debra, but you are wrong. 😊

Mark Farley’s wandering’s's avatar

That was a great read, thanks.

Rea de Miranda's avatar

Do you know the falsity, Mark?

Libertarian's avatar

I don’t think this is correct but it’s the closest one I can think of. I’ll say that “He fell dead in the pew. “ is a falsity because he was doubled over already within his arms on his knees and so could not have “fell dead”. He could have slumped dead but one doesn’t usually “fall” when sitting in a pew and doubled over forward.

Rea de Miranda's avatar

Wrong answer! 😆