Chapter 2 Summary

The prologue for this chapter speaks of a fast talking salesman pitching a device that sounds a lot like a kaleidoscope. Whoever looks into it perceives something other than what he thought he was looking at.

The chapter itself begins with an extended description of how the Oregon coast has several small towns like the town near the Stamper Place, and how the same sorts of people populate those towns. The narrative (in present tense) then focuses on the Snag, the town's local bar and meeting place, and on the conversation taking place there one night before the present day events of the previous chapter (the encounters between Draeger and Evenwrite, and Draeger and Viv). The angry, anti-Stamper customers at the Snag, including a down-on-his-luck lumberjack, argue about the causes of the various labor troubles in the area. They all say that the...