Chapter 9, Bureaucracy Summary

Zane catches up on his case load and considers his task. He decides that he'll do what he thinks is right, without worrying about whether it damns his soul. He goes to take the soul of one of two miners who are trapped without air. He tries to comfort the other miner, who is filled with guilt although he is bound for Heaven. His mother, too, was suffering a fatal illness, and after her son inadvertently let her know she was terminal, she died in the night. When the man loses consciousness, Zane asks his client if he needs anything. The miner has a song running through his head and asks Death to tell him a story about it.

Zane makes up a story about Wilda, a whale whose family is killed by whalers. She wants to understand why and disguises...