Popular Mechanics / Raymond Carver

“In this manner, the issue was decided” (Carver).  What in the world wee the parents thinking.  That is a terrible way to treat a baby they should have known better.  They must have both been deranged.  The babies screaming should have made them think but apparently it did not help.  Did they rip the baby apart or did one parent finally win and run away.  The author leaves then ending up to the reader’s imagination.  Popular mechanics is a very odd title for this passage.  It implies a story involving mechanical parts but it only involves human parts which are partially mechanical.  The title implies also somewhat what happen to the baby.  This story reminds me of the story of King Solomon and how he dealt with two women trying to claim a baby.  He proposed to cut it in half and give each half but the real mother offered to give up the baby instead of have it be killed.