A to Z Review: “Basic Agreement,” by Avis Pabel
“Basic Agreement,” by Avis Pabel appeared in the September 1958 issue of Astounding and was reprinted in the December UK issue of the magazine. It is the only story by Pabel that appears in the Internet Science Fiction Database, although she wrote articles under the name Avis Brick that appeared in the magazine Persuasion, which was published by the Nathaniel Branden Institute, part of the Objectivist movement championing Ayn Rand.
“Basic Agreement” is an odd little story of Marjorie, who insists she sees something out of the corner of her eye in her bedroom each night after her parents put her to bed. Her father has little patience with her shenanigans. The fact that Marjorie is unable to describe what she saws just serves to make him less willing to offer her sympathy. Instead, he compares Marjorie to her older sister Jill, who has apparently died and was either a perfect child or whose death has sanctified her in her parents’ memories.