Summary

In the 25th section titled “2014, Black Site (Negev Desert),” the guard and Prisoner Z sit in the jail cell, playing backgammon. Their reunion after a weekend of the guard not working reminds them “of how trapped they both are” (140). Prisoner Z walks to his shelf and reaches for a letter he has written for the General. He hands it to the guard. They continue playing their game. Prisoner Z has been counting the number of times he and his opponent have each won. Prisoner Z has won about 3,000 more times than the guard, and he expresses his wish that they might one day again become even. The guard comments: “It’s your obsession with being even that put you in here in the first place. Nothing is even” (141). Prisoner Z does not like this talk...