Book 2: Chapter 21 Summary

Jack goes outside in the January light and appreciates the weather on his walk outside. He is halfway down the street when he sees Heinrich standing on the small ledge outside the attic window. He is looking at something through his binoculars. Jack goes inside and finds out that a train car has derailed and a lot of smoke has been released. Soon, the smoke becomes a dark billowing cloud of Nyodene Derivative. The family wonders whether they will have to evacuate, but Jack calms their fears by saying that college professors don't run from disaster. Society is set up so only the poor are troubled by disasters. They watch the disaster grow more and more, finally eating dinner and ignoring the growing disaster until they are finally told to evacuate by a voice booming from a truck driving around the...