Chapters 4-6 Summary

Bogus, while still in grad school, often has trouble sleeping. While Biggie sleeps, he records his thoughts, for future writing. Gazing out the window, he watches as Filch comes outside and stands on the porch next door. Bogus worries that he will never lose his insomnia, if Filch, at his age, still deals with it. Bogus reminisces about a time when his son is a baby and teething. Bogus leaves the baby alone for a while and visits Elspeth, an old girlfriend. The two have casual sex in her hammock, and Bogus goes for a swim in the ocean.

Bogus comes back to the present, describing his thesis project. He is translating an ancient ballad, written in a dead language no one speaks. It is such an obscure language that Bogus quickly starts just making his translation up, before eventually abandoning...