Character Analysis
Joel visits Noon City twice over the course of the novel, and that's where we meet some interesting characters like Miss Roberta Velma Lacey, owner of R. V. Lacey's Princely Place, who takes a shine to Joel but hates Idabel, and her assistant, a black kid named Romeo.
Sam Radclif is the driver who gives Joel a lift to Noon City and warns him that things might be kind of weird at the landing, while the one-armed barber is the first sign of intolerance in the city. Sydney Katz isn't in Noon City, but he's the guy who hooks up Joel with Sam for a ride into town.