AThe mood ring was to show that the characters never gave off bad energy. That is why they remained unaffected. In actuality, of course, mood rings react only to temperature, which can fluctuate in response to many possible moods.
AThere's a small backstory stated in the "making of" feature on the DVD: She lost her husband in a war years earlier, so she decided to isolate herself from society, ultimately turning paranoid. She was in the film to foreshadow how Alma could turn out if she continued to behave as she had been doing (not showing her emotions, isolating herself from her husband, etc.).
AIf you received a penny on Day 1, 2 pennies on Day 2, and 4 pennies on Day 3 etc., you would end up with over 10 million dollars in a month. Here are the amounts you'd receive on each day:Day 1 $0.01 Day 2 $0.02 Day 3 $0.04 Day 4 $0.08 Day 5 $0.16 Day 6 $0.32 Day 7 $0.64 Day 8 $1.28 Day 9 $2.56 Day 10 $5.12 Day 11 $10.24 Day 12 $20.48 Day 13 $40.96 Day 14 $81.92 Day 15 $163.84 Day 16 $327.68 Day 17 $655.36 Day 18 $1,310.72 Day 19 $2,621.44 Day 20 $5,242.88 Day 21 $10,485.76 Day 22 $20,971.52 Day 23 $41,943.04 Day 24 $83,886.08 Day 25 $167,772.16 Day 26 $335,544.32 Day 27 $671,088.64 Day 28 $1,342,177.28 Day 29 $2,684,354.56 Day 30 $5,368,709.12 Day 31 $10,737,418.24.The riddle is asking for the total amount that you would have received by the end of the month. So the exact answer is found after summing up these amounts. If the month has 30 days then the exact total sum would be $10,737,418.23, and if the month has 31 days then the exact total sum would be $21,474,836.47.