Part 1, Chapters 16-20 Summary

Chapter 16: Late that night, Louis wakes to find Victor Pascow standing in his bedroom doorway. Pascow, with his bashed-in head covered in dried blood, orders Louis to follow him. Louis looks over at his sleeping wife and realizes he must be dreaming. Louis' Uncle Carl, a funeral director, taught the young Louis details about what is done to dead bodies by pathologists and undertakers, and Louis comforts himself with the knowledge that Pascow's body is in an autopsy drawer right now, his skull filled with brown paper. Accepting this visitation as a dream, Louis throws aside the covers and follows Pascow. Pascow walks through the wall to exit the house, but even in his dream, Louis bumps into the hard wood of the wall. He exits through the doorway and finds Pascow waiting for him outside.

Together, Louis and...