TALL TALE TV - Sci-Fi and Fantasy Short Stories
Sep 18, 2026 · 15 min · 9 segments
# Statistical Improbabilities *ep. 841* Nancy Schumann is a writer of dark fiction and academic texts in English and German and works have been published in both languages. Nancy's particular…
Chris HerronHost
Statistical Impossibilities by Nancy Schumann As soon as Harriet entered the building, she headed to the seventh floor, the top of the building, or at least right underneath the roof, which was about as top as it gets.

It wasn't the tallest of buildings by any stretch of the imagination, and yet tall enough.

Absolutely nobody living or working above the second floor would dream of taking the stairs.

Not unless they had to, and even then they'd probably consider staying out until the lift was fixed if they had to get higher than the third, maybe fourth floor.

Thoughts were strange things, Harriet thought, as she climbed the stairs floor by floor with way too much time for her thoughts to run wild.

She should be concentrating on getting up these stairs quickly, but she could not make her steps any quicker.

With nothing but the physical task of the Lonely Ascend, invited musings on the convenience of just that loneliness.

Harriet never encountered anybody on the stairs, which should be statistically impossible.

Magic worked in peculiar ways, and people's choice to do or not do something affected the world around them.

Many people individually choosing the lift created a vacuum on the staircase that magic was ready to fill given the opportunity.

The fact that nobody else ever shared Harriet's decision to walk, that all the things in reality that might have caused another person to be in the staircase at the same time as Harriet never managed to create a situation for Harriet to meet anybody on the stairs, amplified her simple act of walking to have its own magical effect.

to allow a more deliberate buildup while the seventh floor landing harbored more and more magical energy.

She took each step deliberately, her breathing even, her muscles unfazed by the exercise.

Statistical Impossibilities by Nancy Schumann As soon as Harriet entered the building, she headed to the seventh floor, the top of the building, or at least right underneath the roof, which was about as top as it gets.

It wasn't the tallest of buildings by any stretch of the imagination, and yet tall enough.

Absolutely nobody living or working above the second floor would dream of taking the stairs.

Not unless they had to, and even then they'd probably consider staying out until the lift was fixed if they had to get higher than the third, maybe fourth floor.

Thoughts were strange things, Harriet thought, as she climbed the stairs floor by floor with way too much time for her thoughts to run wild.

She should be concentrating on getting up these stairs quickly, but she could not make her steps any quicker.

With nothing but the physical task of the Lonely Ascend, invited musings on the convenience of just that loneliness.

Harriet never encountered anybody on the stairs, which should be statistically impossible.

Magic worked in peculiar ways, and people's choice to do or not do something affected the world around them.

Many people individually choosing the lift created a vacuum on the staircase that magic was ready to fill given the opportunity.

The fact that nobody else ever shared Harriet's decision to walk, that all the things in reality that might have caused another person to be in the staircase at the same time as Harriet never managed to create a situation for Harriet to meet anybody on the stairs, amplified her simple act of walking to have its own magical effect.

to allow a more deliberate buildup while the seventh floor landing harbored more and more magical energy.

She took each step deliberately, her breathing even, her muscles unfazed by the exercise.
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