Part II: Cuba Summary

World War II has broken out and Thomas Hudson accepts an assignment to pilot a boat that hunts for German submarines. He brings the boat into the Havana port during a northeastern gale and begins a four-day vacation in his Cuban house. He sleeps with his favorite cat named Boise and thinks about how the cat always tries to follow him when he goes to sea. Other memories include the time that he first took on Boise, a stray that used to hang around a local bar, while Tom, his last remaining son, was visiting. Thomas thinks of Goats, another favored cat that likes to fight other cats, and how this cat helped to find an anti-hangover capsule that had fallen under the bed.

The next morning Thomas cannot find anything to eat in the house. The hired help...