The Cassandra

The Cassandra
by Sharma Shields

Mildred has a special ability: she can see the future through her dreams.  She runs away from home to become a secretary at the Hanford Research Center.  It's the 1940s and they are working on a mysterious product that is to aid the war effort.  

She is happy to be working on a special project, but is soon horrified when she realizes what that special product is.  It's plutonium, to be used on the first atomic bombs.  She has visions of what will happen with this product.  It's terrifying and disturbing.

Her sister and mother were not very nice to her, they are using her.  They are not happy when Mildred runs away to get a job, yet they sure seem to like the checks that Mildred sends back to them.  Mildred comments about a bonus she received and how she would like to spend a few of the dollars on a a pair of shoes and her mother and sister guilt her for being so greedy and not sending the entire bonus to them.  

Mildred is constantly sleepwalking which leads to problems.  She is out and about in the middle of the night in her pajamas and it is not safe.  People are not understanding that she is sleepwalking and that she is not doing it on purpose.  

Towards the end there is a violent part, something bad happens to Cassandra.  And then the ending was a surprise.