The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce: swimming vigorously with the current. His brain was as
energetic as his arms and legs; he thought with the rapidity
of lightning:
"The officer," he reasoned, "will not make that martinet's
error a second time. It is as easy to dodge a volley as a
single shot. He has probably already given the command to
fire at will. God help me, I cannot dodge them all!"
An appalling splash within two yards of him was followed by a
loud, rushing sound, DIMINUENDO, which seemed to travel back
through the air to the fort and died in an explosion which
stirred the very river to its deeps! A rising sheet of water
 An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge |