Book 3, The War, Chapters 8-10 Summary

At her request, Deighton takes Selina to Harlem on Sunday to visit "the kingdom," where she can see Father Peace. A long banquet table is set up, with people of different races eating along it, and the crowd presses on those who are eating, with a new person filling each place that is given up. Many of the women remind Selina of brides in their white dresses, and there is a strange tension in the air, a sort of dark ecstasy. Finally, enough people move that Selina can see Father Peace sitting at the end of the table, and she is surprised to see that he is even smaller, milder, and less threatening in real life than in his picture.

A woman suddenly starts telling Father Peace about the wonderful vibrations she feels, which starts...