Chapter 87 is just absolutely normal stuff going on in people’s lives. Family and friends and kids and dog - normal stuff. Not much else to say. Some people will find it boring, but most of life is. More exciting stuff is in the offing.
Several people wanted me to somehow have Carl stop the Challenger Shuttle disaster. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, the idea that Carl can change these events is actually quite naïve. In most cases, the various disasters that occurred were quite well known and predicted at the time. The problem wasn’t in the knowledge of what could happen, but in the administrative response. The engineers knew full well that the Shuttle could blow but were ordered to launch anyway. The bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon was not a surprise; the Marines knew the bad guys were coming for them, but the State Department ordered them to be non-threatening and ignore Marine standard safety precautions. We routinely see these sorts of things happening. If Carl finds a pay phone and calls it in, nobody will believe him or care.
On the other hand, Carl should have foreseen that he couldn’t be anonymous forever. Fame is coming!