A comparative, poisonous omnipotence is reflected in the setting and title of the story. We had lunch at a takeout place, eating hamburgers and fries at a picnic table not far from the highway. Andrew did not like to go there, naturally enough, because he was not the sort who could sit around the kitchen table with the turkey crew, telling jokes. We turned east at Everett and climbed into the Cascades. We were driving east across the United States, taking the most northerly route, and would cross into Canada again at Sarnia, Ontario.
nest...