Switchback, or, Lost child in the terror zone

In a neutral area of the Terror Zone, two women await to cross the range of gunfire, one with a baby carriage, the other on bicycle. Both have faced death many times, and the discussion they have which makes up the content of Mednick's "jazz operetta" reveals a horrifying world in which there is little hope for a future - much like the inner-city ghettos of today. Yet these women are proud, stubborn, insistent in their intent to live more normal lives and to resume their movement up the switchback.

The ending is as inevitable as tomorrow morning's headlines.