Section 2, Through p. 63 Summary

While the previous section ends by foreshadowing the gift Humboldt returns from the grave to offer Charlie, the following section does not immediately fulfill the expectations created. Instead, Charlie moves forward in time to describe one of his more horrible days. After his morning coffee, Charlie descends to street level to discover that, during the night, vandals have attacked his beloved Mercedes 280 SL, apparently with baseball bats and hammers. Every panel is severely dented. The windshield is a mass of spider webs, and the headlamps are smashed. Charlie describes it as a significant moment. He acknowledges that the car, which he bought only at Renata's insistence, has become an extension of himself. Further, he knows exactly who bashed his car. The culprit is a petty gangster named Rinaldo Cantabile, who calls Charlie at odd hours of the night and...