There are moments in which she toys with the idea of higher power, particularly in earlier stories, where words like "glory" and "prayer" flash out from otherwise stark writing. The beauty lies in Munro's refusal to answer the question of whether human beings are at the mercy of a higher plan. Each ending could equally derive from the apparent contingency of human existence. The only answer she will allow us to glean is that really, in the end, "you never know".