Once, after a spammer trolled Nanae, accusing antis of having no life, Mad Pierre sarcastically responded that the spammer was correct. ¶ “Damn, you’ve got us bang to rights. We have no lives. None. At all.”

But like all the other symbolic devourings in the novel, this one too brings its revelation.

Sister took out her breviary and said her evening office.

Obtain a speculum, a wooden Pap-smear stick, normal saline with a 60-mL syringe, a sterile specimen cup, and slides with frosted tips on which to label client information.