GEOFF

Geoff is book smart. Ask him to name a river in Zimbabwe, he would ask if you had the Zambezi or the Limpopo in mind. What's his take on the theory of dark matter? The universe is filled with it, he'll reply, just like the confusion in people's minds. What does he know about women? Everything there is to know, particularly how their darker nature works. Can you recover from failure, Geoff? Unlikely, since you'll never forget that failure; and since that failure is always with you, you will always be a failure. Being borderline genius, however, does not translate to success. Geoff is a practiced underachiever, and by choice a failure at marriage and his social life. His newfound career is a joke. The position at the NSA that should have been his was given to a woman to fill the gender quota. Not only has he been unfavorably profiled because he is a man, but also because he is smarter than most everyone around him. He feels cheated, and he carries a multitude of grievances with a grudge. He must balance the scales, otherwise, life has no meaning. One night, on a snowy highway in western Oregon, he comes to the proverbial fork on the road. Maybe the planets were aligned to serve as a bridge to a new realm. Maybe it was the other part of him demanding to be set free. The confusion generated by a massive snowstorm has keyed his detestation of civilized humanity. He decides then that there is more dignity getting lost in the unknown than to continue to flounder in the meaningless familiar.