Cards laying flat and invisible in the darkness start to turn face up, shifting to auto-collect in proper puzzle-order as picture of a building facade and accompanying sign, which say- "ALAMOGORDO Abstract & Title Co.". Wandering from place, you sometimes have the habit of returning (maybe it isn't a habit, it is an accident of the hillslopes and water terrain of your satellite world) to places you've visited before, and even to someplace like home. When you do wander in from the endless prairie or desert, where ideas string together one after, to a place you know and have known, often a weighty feeling of sadness hits, as you realize that here, ownership is formal, and ideas are owned. Fill up the canteen and get out of town. But if you need it, they say that there's always a job waiting for you at the Abstract and Title Company.

That's the way it is with Jacob, who'll spend most of the last days of his life wandering around on national, public land. Considering how things end up for him, it may not be much better than a job (with the government).