Round-Up Time

"Round-Up Time" by Chester Cohen is a tale that blends science fiction with social commentary, unfolding in the heart of a bustling urban environment. Set around the Fourth of July, the story introduces a struggling protagonist whose life takes a bizarre turn upon encountering a strange character known as Queerpants in Central Park. As Queerpants engages in a series of odd and imaginary antics, he inexplicably draws a massive crowd, captivating them to the point where they shower the narrator with money. What begins as an amusing spectacle soon escalates into a scene of mass hysteria as Queerpants leads the entranced crowd towards a hovering, banana-shaped structure, where people willingly enter. Left behind with a newfound fortune, the narrator grapples with the unsettling realization that those around him have succumbed to a collective madness, leaving him questioning the very nature of reality and his place within it.