Summary

Conway remembers receiving a call from Agnes and learning that there was a city-wide health emergency because of contaminated water. Conway and Agnes decided this virus is causing Mairead’s illness. As Agnes talked, Conway noticed that she went on an “apocalyptic riffing,” which he did not like (103). Conway thinks about Agnes and how Agnes “inhabited some separate medium” from the rest of the world (105). Conway then watched the news, learning about an autistic man who “designed out of thin air the most complete and complex urban plan history had ever known” (106). Conway marveled that “this map of a kingdom” existed only “in [the man’s] head” (108).

Because of Mairead’s illness, Conway had to take a leave of absence from work. This absence caused a delay in one project, which caused Hanley, a local politician, to call Conway and complain. Conway...