How It All Goes Down
- Rick finds a toad, one of the most important animals to Mercer and long thought to be extinct.
- He grabs a box from his car and captures the creature, becoming the most excited person ever to catch a toad.
- Geography Snack: In Chapter 21, Rick says he's somewhere near the Oregon border (21.42). Then, the narrator mentions that he travels 700 miles south to San Francisco (22.12). This means he must be near the Washington-Oregon border since the California-Oregon border is much closer to San Fran (roughly 350 miles). Guess Portland didn't fare too well during World War Terminus.
- After flying back, Rick excitedly shows Iran the rare find, but she fumbles around with it and finds its control panel. It's electric! (We waited as long as we could before linking to this joke).
- She wonders if she shouldn't have told him, but Rick is glad to know.
- It doesn't matter to him. He says, "The electric things have their lives, too." (22.30).
- He agrees to go to bed and set the Penfield mood organ for long-deserved peace.
- Iran stays with him to make sure he doesn't wake up with night terrors as he sometimes does.
- After she's confident he's asleep, Iran calls the electric animal repair shop.
- She orders a repair on the toad. As she tells the repairmen, "I want it to work perfectly. My husband is devoted to it" (22.59).
- Then she fixes herself a cup of hot, black coffee.