Summary

On a morning in the deep winter of 1981, the protestors are still outside the military base. There aren’t many of them yet, but soon their numbers will rise, and it will evolve into an all-women’s movement, complete with its own set of clever protest songs. In a year, “30,000 women from all across the country, all across the world” (279) will hold hands in a human chain around the perimeter fence. The authorities will want to crack down, but violence against these singing women would reveal their hidden cruelty. The protestors will consider the millions not present like “snowblind explorers in a polar region” (280) who will die in their sleep if they do not act.

A few days into the new year and Art will be lying awake in his apartment and thinking about Charlotte. He will wonder why he didn’t try...