This thread has been running a while yet I'm still having a hard time wrapping my mind around it. For want of a nail the kingdom was lost. It would have taken so little to save them in relative terms. It's difficult to imagine how the father must have felt when he realized they were in a pickle, having declined the offer of a ride out.
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“I'd rather have questions that cannot be answered than answers that can't be questioned.” —Richard Feynman