Annotated Chapter 18 Page 1
Chapter 18 was posted after Interlude 3, so from here on, we’re back in the original posting order of the online archives.
As the caption says, this takes place in January 2011, skipping a good chunk of time since the November 2010 elections.
…which means it skips the 2010 Christmas season, which is when Sparrow’s dream from Interlude 4 takes place. So we’re not using in-universe chronological order. But we’re sticking with Master’s Edition print order! Which, now, is back in harmony with original online posting order.
Also: this chapter was originally written in May 2015. Which means the 2015 Boston Snowpocalypse was still fresh in the memory. So the on-page action is less “accurate to IRL 2011” and more “rolling with the inspiration I felt at the time I was writing.”
January, 2011: the frozen wastelands of the North.
Sparrow (narration): My name is Sparrow Applebaum, and my life is pretty okay. I have a bachelor’s degree, a part-time job, a congressional representative that I actually like, and an apartment where the heating bill is included in the rent.
On the minus side, the job doesn’t actually cover my rent, my feet are always sore from standing for hours on end, the T has been late every day this week, and Bianca and I still can’t afford to get a cat.
. . . by which we mean the suburbs of Boston.
Sparrow (narration): Although we do kinda have a dog. And let’s face it: we could never convince a cat to shovel the snow.
Sparrow: Hey, Patrick!
Patrick: What? What is it? I didn’t do anything!
Sparrow: Shapeshift yourself a sweater or something. It’s making me cold just looking at you.
It’s possible that’s one of the streets I was on during the snowpocalypse, but not that section of the street. My ex called me and said the weather report indicated the snow was going to happen sooner than expected, so I should pick her up from work immediately. It took 25 minutes to get to her work, which was just slightly slower than normal. It took 8 hours to make the return trip, which is normally the same trip time. I was driving a 4-wheel drive vehicle with snow tires, and at one point it lost traction on all four tires at once. (No accident, though; I was going extremely slow and know how to drive in snow.)