You’ve just about had it. Everything and everybody is on your last nerve, which marks the official end of any self-restraint you might’ve had. You’re out of patience, out of breath, out of any shred ...

Two middle-aged women. One an artist, the other a scientist. One lives in Alaska, the other in North Carolina. The first, empty-nester Elyse, goes to the Anchorage zoo to sit near a penned polar bear ...