4-way #2: The Escape Hatch

Much like its name implies, the Escape Hatch means one thing.  A way out.  A quick escape from some unspeakable horror or impending doom.  A burning building.  A nose-dive from 30,000 feet.  A sinking ship.  Or, in this case, a town called Harrisburgia.

I don't mean to suggest any existential threat to Harrisburgia or its citizens.  It's not burning, crashing, or sinking (except perhaps metaphorically).  The Hatch serves a more subtle purpose than the preservation of human life.  It's all about the preservation of human sanity.  Surrounded by a mix of madness and monotony, frequent, quick escape to the north is necessary to prevent Harrisburgians from coming up with their own, more "creative" methods of coping.  If Chuck Palahniuk taught us anything, it's that, left to our own devises, we will become insomniacs, black-mailing our employers and producing homemade soap (and napalm) in our basements, in order fund our underground fight clubs and guerilla armies.  Not to mention the schizophrenia.  No, more conventional ways of coping are preferred for Western Civilization to continue as planned.  There's just one catch...