Why might an author change something, create new characters, or speculate about an underdocumented piece of history?

Read the following passage: sari couldn't believe her bad luck. she had locked her keys in the car. to add fuel to the fire, her cell phone was in the locked car, and she was late for a very important meeting. she knocked on her neighbor's door so that she could ask to use his phone, but he was not not home. what was she to do? what role does the idiom in the passage serve? a. it shows that sari has incredibly bad luck when it comes to work. b. it shows that sari's neighbor was not home either. c. it shows that sari locked her keys in the car. d. it shows that sari's situation was worse than it seemed at first.

If the author of the gift of the magi had made the reader aware of the gifts that jim had purchased in the beginning of the story this would be an example of

Which of these novels is considered an important precursor to science fiction