Underworld

In 1978, Nick eats lunch with Big Sims. They are attending a training conference for people in the waste-management industry. Nick has recently started work at Waste Containment, otherwise known as Whiz Co. Nick and Big Sims talk about a strange news item concerning a cargo ship that has sailed around various ports. No port will accept the ship because it supposedly contains toxic items, though rumors have suggested that it could contain drugs, possibly “disguised as toxic waste” (279). Nick tells Big Sims about the Italian concept of dietrologia, “the science of what is behind something” (280), to explain these conspiracy theories. In the restaurant, Nick and Big Sims decide that a group of fellow diners must belong to a swingers’ club, as a swingers’ conference is taking place nearby. After they finish eating, Nick and Big Sims jog together. Since he started work in waste management, Big Sims says, “everything [he sees] is garbage” (283). He talks about the inventive schemes used by restaurants to hide their food waste “because it’s property” (284). Later that night, Nick and Big Sims visit a new landfill site with Detwiler, their boss. The new site is an “engineered crater” a mile across and 500 feet deep.