Part I, Chapter 6 Summary

It is two months later, March 1976, and the house has been made livable again. Robert has repaired the generator and soundproofed the house. He has replaced his car with a similar model by driving to a dealership in a borrowed car from the neighborhood. He is relieved he has saved his supply of frozen food because all electricity in the city has been destroyed. He has cleaned up the spilled gasoline and debris from the garage. Inside the house, he has repaired the cracked plaster and put up another wall mural, this one a scene of a Canadian woods, "heavy with the silence of manless nature." During these labors, his drinking has decreased to a nightcap or two in the evenings. He is ready to begin his investigation into the nature of vampires.

He begins by recalling the past...