After the publication of Karl's book, the group discusses its placement in the British Library, which houses a copy of every published work of literature--a practice Karl finds questionable in "a world where everything is binnable." Karl doesn't understand why, just because something is old, it means it's good--from Shakespeare to cave drawings. The conversation turns to puns, which Ricky thinks should be short for, "punch him in the mouth." Karl enjoys a good idiom, but he doesn't like it when they don't say what they mean to say. The old wartime saying, "Keep the home fires burning" bugs him because he imagines a soldier sitting in a trench on the front lines trying to figure out who's changing the heating in his home. His advice to a departing soldier is to break a few things on the way out, so that the family he leaves behind doesn't forget how much they need him.
