Summary

At the outset of the novel, in “Sick Kids”, Sam Mazer was on his way to a meeting, fighting his way through a crowded subway platform. As he moved between strangers, he saw his “old comrade, Sadie Green” (4). He had seen her intermittently over the years and knew she attended MIT, but their paths had never crossed in Boston. Sam yelled, “Sadie Miranda Green! You have died of dysentery” (6). Sadie turned around in the crowd and the old friends talked on the platform near an advertisement for the Magic Eye. Sadie said she needed to run but agreed to wait for one more train. As they stared at the optical illusion on the poster, Sam stopped trying to find the hidden image and observed Sadie instead. When the next train arrived, Sadie handed Sam a disc with her game and asked him to...