Nation: The Great Train Rack

A commuter on the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad is a Kafkaesque character who rides out his days of penance on a train. His pendulous life is governed by back-room fortunetellers who write and rewrite the timetables. His journey is shepherded by faceless men in visored hats who carry metal beetles that chew up tickets and disgorge the microscopic confetti on the vests of the witless passengers. He knows not what his sins are; he just lives in the dim suspicion that at some Last Stop the Great Dispatcher will explain everything....

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