Jonah: In the sci-fi novel The Space Merchants, a 1950s classic by
Frederick Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth, an overpopulated and resource-depleted
world of the future is fed in part by an object named Chicken Little–a huge
mountain of chicken meat that grows from the inside. Workers patrol its
perimeter constantly, shaving off slabs with chain saws. Chicken Little
becomes a key plot device–fugitives from justice hide inside it, in some
way I have forgotten. The other thing I remember from the novel is one rich
lady admiring another rich lady’s ring with a precious insert: “Is that
real oak?”….