The notion of a focused effort may have been exaggerated, [ Dickerson is all too willing to hedge that expectation, invisible sheers nosed in through the optimism, snip snip, ] but the people here are mostly kind and unified in their willingness to risk life and limb for whatever disparate task is most recently deemed essential to the war effort.

[ He pauses to sigh once he’s said it, and goes back to forking at his toast under curds of cooling egg. ]

Warden Ellis has saved my life on at least two occasions.

[ One of them while dreaming, but far be it from him to canonize dirty deeds only. ]