Summary

“Fearful Symmetry” is a short story that follows protagonist Sherwin Polatkin. Sherwin and his friends, including Karen, go to see the movie The Breakfast Club. During the movie, Karen holds Sherwin’s hand and plays with his fingers. It is far more intimate to him than the sex he has had with three other girls. Nothing ever comes of it, but The Breakfast Club becomes his favorite movie. On August 11, 1984, Wayne Ford and eleven other firefighters battle a wildfire in Sirois Canyon, near Wenatchee, Washington. The fire spreads, so Ford builds an escape fire which clears out an area of burnable material, the ashes of which Ford and his fellows hunker down in and survive. A book is written on the event, bearing the title Fearful Symmetry: The True Story of the Sirois Canyon Fire, which borrows its title from William...