- An out-of-control trolley hurtles toward a crowd of protesters carrying “BLUE LIVES MURDER” signs. You could pull a lever so the trolley instead hits a boarded up, empty Starbucks. What do you do?
- An out-of-control trolley hurtles toward Bank of America’s headquarters. A collision would destroy the bank’s computer network, which would hurt the stock market and could start a cascade of events that would bring capitalism to its knees and usher in a new era for humanity. You could pull a lever so the trolley hits only a cute baby doll that your three-year-old daughter would adore. What do you do?
- An out-of-control trolley hurtles toward seven protesters, from behind. One of them—a nerdy-looking woman carrying medical supplies—looks familiar. Five of them carry signs protesting police violence. The seventh is a fit young journalist with a trendy haircut you could never pull off. You can just tell he’s super smug behind his Covid mask. There is no lever, but you could warn the protesters in time for them to move to safety. Alternatively, you could use tear gas to force them out of the way, or you could do nothing and watch. What do you do?
- An out-of-control trolley hurtles toward a protester. He is hella annoying, a strong Black man, and his sign says rude things about your law enforcement brethren. You could pull a lever so the trolley hits another protester—possibly a Black trans woman, but it’s hard to tell—who is equally hella annoying but whose sign merely calls for defunding the police. Or you could pull the lever even farther to a third position, splitting the trolley in half to strike both protesters. What do you do?
- An out-of-control trolley hurtles toward the flamboyantly woke city council member who called for dismantling the police. You could pull a lever so the trolley hits a different council member who is friendlier to police, but who has called for bans on chokeholds, kneeling on suspects, and off switches for body cams. What do you do?
- An out-of-control trolley hurtles toward a fellow officer whom you witnessed murdering three protesters in an alley, where no one else saw or took video. He has a Confederate flag on his truck, on his house, and tattooed on his chest next to a swastika and a portrait of Hitler. Once, on a long stakeout, he confessed to poisoning his grandmother, who had screamed at him for stealing the tent and bedding of a homeless family with sick children. You could pull a lever so the trolley instead hits the armored Humvee your department received as a gift from the Army. It’s a sweet vehicle worth a ton of money, and you always feel like a badass rolling down the street in that beast. But it’s just a vehicle. A human life is surely worth more. What do you do?
- An out-of-control trolley hurtles toward a protester you recognize as a frequent commenter on your lesbian sister’s Facebook posts. This protester is also a lesbian, you’re pretty sure, because of the angry way she confronts you in the comments. You have heard your parents shout that homosexuality is a sin and a sign of moral weakness, which is why you always shove down that feeling that you, yourself, might be gay, because whenever you watch porn you’re turned on by the dicks as much as by the breasts. Must. Not. Think. About. It. OK, calm down. Pull it together. You could pull a lever so the trolley instead hits the asshole responsible for the faulty design that so frequently causes trolleys to hurtle at people. What do you do?
- An out-of-control trolley hurtles toward you. You could pull a lever so the trolley instead strikes only the rotten parts of your soul, but then you would never be the same. You would act with integrity. You would be kind to strangers. You would feel no loyalty to corrupt people. What do you do?
- An out-of-control trolley hurtles toward an angry Black man who is shouting at you through your riot shield and face shield, with his empty hands held wide to indicate that he is not a threat. The trolley would hit him, not you. You could pull a lever so the trolley instead safely rolls down the street, unimpeded, away from everyone. What do you do?
- An out-of-control trolley hurtles toward former President Barack Obama. You could pull a lever so the trolley instead smashes into a ten-foot-tall button that initiates a time machine that could carry you back across the decades and centuries, thereby enabling you to easily intervene and save every single Black person, every Native person, and every person of color who has ever been lynched or massacred or murdered by white folks in the history of the United States and the colonial times that came before. Truly, officer, you could single-handedly heal the perpetual festering wound upon the heart of our nation. So tell us, what do you do?
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Eric Bosse is the author of Magnificent Mistakes, in more senses than one. His stories have appeared in The Sun, Zoetrope, The Collagist, FRiGG, Wigleaf, Hobart, and twice before in New World Writing.