Standing Room Only
by Karen Joy Fowler
On Good Friday in 1865, Anna Surratt pines for one of her mother’s boarders—a certain
John Wilkes Booth—not knowing anything of Booth’s plans for the evening, her mother
and brother’s possible role in those plans, or the reason for the legion of odd
tourists packing the streets in the nation’s capital around Ford’s Theatre.
— Michael Main
“It didn’t seem a good show,” Anna said to Mrs. Streichman. “A comedy and not
very funny.”
Mrs. Streichman twisted into the space next to her. “That was just a
rehearsal. The reviews are incredible. And you wouldn’t believe the waiting list.
Years. Centuries! I’ll never have tickets again.” She took a deep, calming breath.
“At least you’re here, dear. That’s something I couldn’t
have expected. That makes it very real. [. . .]”
“Standing Room Only” by Karen Joy Fowler, in Asimov’s Science Fiction, August 1997.