The preacher has dreamed about his own death many times and doesn’t fear it. Sometimes he dreams that he is killed in brutal, horrifying ways, but in the dreams he is always resurrected. He tells the deacons that it’s time for the evening service, and that he will walk to the church alone. Reluctantly, the deacons step aside and let him pass, then follow him out the door. On the walk to church, the preacher greets everyone in the neighborhood. Everyone knows him and says hello back. He passes a shoeshine man,
Léon, who poured slop on the heads of Volunteers after they arrested a group of philosophy students performing in a production of
Waiting for Godot.