Ragle Gumm
Chapter 1
Ragle
Ragle sits surrounded by papers and a slide rule, meticulously calculating his lottery entry patterns while drinking warm beer, and expresses reluctance to drop out of the contest.
Chapter 2
Ragle / Ragle Gumm — aliases: National champion, Grand all-time winner
Ragle observes the Black family's arrival with disdain, engages in banter with Bill Black about work and fashion, and reveals his national champion status in the 'Where Will the Little Green Man Be?' contest. He later declines to teach Black the contest method, defends his work as analytical rather than creative, and outlines the capabilities of Sammy's crystal radio set.
Chapter 3
Ragle / Ragle Gumm
Ragle Gumm postpones reading the contest clues to avoid the paper, then meets Mr. Lowery who confirms the contest's reliance on his unique aesthetic intuition rather than literal clues. He later takes Junie Black to a pool, forces a kiss upon her, and subsequently undergoes a terrifying episode where reality dissolves into molecular silence, leaving him with a slip of paper marked "SOFT-DRINK STAND."
Chapter 4
Ragle / Ragle Gumm — aliases: national hero
Ragle admits to Vic that he is having a nervous breakdown and may leave the country, though he later decides to stay to investigate a series of contradictions. He digs up a phone book and magazines at the Ruins, calls a disconnected number, and shows a magazine featuring a mysterious blonde actress to Vic and Margo, suggesting the objects themselves might be part of a larger pattern.
Chapter 5
Ragle / Ragle Gumm
Ragle Gumm signs up for a Civil Defense class after being recruited by Mrs. Keitelbein, viewing it as a way to meet Junie. He participates in the discussion with Vic and Black regarding the mystery of Marilyn Monroe and the phone book, eventually dismissing the evidence when Black leaves with the book.
Chapter 7
Ragle / Ragle Gumm
Overcome by paranoia and a sense of infantile delusion, Ragle packs his money and flees his home, taking a cab to a bus station where he finds an endless line. He intervenes in the plight of two soldiers, Wade and Phil, by driving a pickup truck to find a tire and helping them recover their abandoned car with a flat.
Chapter 8
Ragle / Ragle Gumm
Ragle watches instructional tapes to rehearse police procedures before stealing a pickup truck and fleeing on the highway, where he uses his knowledge of traffic patterns to elude a pursuing motorcycle cop. After crashing the vehicle, he walks to a distant house and, despite his mental state, is taken in by Mrs. and Garret Kesselman, who offer him sanctuary and alcohol after he admits to suicidal intent.
Chapter 9
Ragle / Ragle Gumm — aliases: Mr. Gumm, Man of the Year
Ragle discovers the radio and future-dated magazines in the Kesselman house, realizing his world is a constructed sham. After the Kesselmans escape through a secret wall, he is captured on the porch by city maintenance men who inject him with fumes and load him into a truck.
Chapter 11
Ragle / Ragle Gumm
Ragle speaks with Junie Black about her divorce, then attends Mrs. Keitelbein's Civil Defense class, where he dissociates while examining a model of an underground factory. He later visits Vic Nielson at the supermarket, discusses his escape plan involving an interstate truck, and shares his collection of reality slips with Vic.
Chapter 14
Ragle / Ragle Gumm — aliases: Eagle Gumm
Ragle reads a magazine that restores his memory of the lunar war and his role in it, realizing his past life was a constructed fantasy. He acknowledges Mrs. Keitelbein's help, states he remembers the truth, and decides to join the Lunar colonists because they are right about the necessity of migration. He bids farewell to Vic, who ignores him, and prepares to leave Earth.