Chapter 4 Summary

The Senator clings to life in his hospital bed and discerns the vague shape of a man at his bedside. Going in and out of consciousness, the Senator lapses into a memory from his childhood spent as a young preacher named Bliss in the care of Reverend Hickman, who would use Bliss in his revivals and sermons to make dramatic points. Bliss remembers the day Hickman introduces him to the coffin in which Bliss will be carried into services and from which he will rise at the appropriate moment for dramatic effect.

Bliss recalls the horror and vulnerability at being forced to lie in the dark coffin, his only demands are that his teddy bear accompany him, and that he receives vanilla ice cream after each performance.

The Senator continues to drift in and out of consciousness and recalls portions of political speeches...