Part 2: Sunday, Chapter 5, Augustus Brine and Chapter 6, The Djinn's Story Summary

Augustus Brine is a fisherman who has not caught a fish in almost three months. He is also the owner of the general store, a practitioner of Zen, and a believer in chaos. He is puzzling over the strange man who asked for salt in the store that morning while fishing, and a state of Zen eludes him. Then, the strange man appears.

The odd man seems to assume Augustus should be afraid of him and begins drinking saltwater out of the ocean. He introduces himself as Gian Hen Gian, and Augustus thinks he is crazy, except that he saw blue swirls come out of the man's mouth that morning. Augustus accepts the situation as part of the absurdity and chaos of the universe.

The...