Subtitled “The Black Man Who Made the Angels Wait,” this story begins with the title character, Nabo, waking up in a puddle of horse urine in a stable. A horse kicked Nabo in the head, and he no longer feels anything. Someone tells him that he has slept for three days, but Nabo can’t see anyone else, including the horses, in the stable.

The story describes Nabo’s habitual trek to the square on Saturday nights to watch a Black saxophonist play music. This is the only break Nabo gets from his usual activity of watching over the horses. This continued until the saxophonist failed to appear two Saturdays in a row. Nabo stopped visiting the square when another musician replaced the saxophonist.

Nabo finally sees a man in the shadows of the stable. The man tells him that the “choir” is waiting for him. Nabo believes that he has seen the man somewhere before, but doesn’t ask him where. Nabo doesn’t find the reference to the choir strange since he usually invents songs to soothe the horses and to amuse a girl with muteness in his household. However, Nabo is preoccupied with locating the horses, so to relieve his pain, he goes back to sleep. The next time Nabo wakes up, the man tells him he has been asleep for two years. Nabo takes a closer look at the man and finally recognizes him.

The story flashes back further. When he was first hired, Nabo volunteered his singing skills to his household, but conceded to his employers’ request for a stable boy. After the saxophonist’s disappearance, Nabo brought home a gramophone to play music for the girl. The girl didn’t respond to anyone or anything, but sat by the gramophone, which her family came to accept was her fate. One day, they were surprised to hear someone near the gramophone calling for Nabo. When they investigated, they found the girl sitting on the floor against the wall. A few weeks later, they were surprised to hear the gramophone playing while Nabo was in the stable. They realized then that the girl was winding the gramophone herself.

The girl’s family describes finding Nabo in the stable after the horse kicked him down. Nabo recovers from his injury but experiences intense fever and thirst. When his fever breaks, he experiences delirium, talking endlessly about the horses until someone covers his mouth with a handkerchief. This doesn’t deter Nabo from singing. Later, they find Nabo tied to a brace beam, where he continues to sing.

Back in the present scene, Nabo recognizes the man as the saxophonist. The saxophonist explains that he couldn’t return to the square, even though playing music was the only thing he lived for, and that he felt the absence of Nabo as his constant fan. He presses Nabo to come with him again, telling him that so much time has passed that it can no longer be measured.

A month after the saxophonist’s disappearance, Nabo bought a comb to brush the horses’ tails. This resulted in his getting kicked by a horse. The girl’s family reveals that Nabo remains locked up in his room, still talking ceaselessly. They have hoped for his death, but Nabo has survived for 14 years. One of the children in the family decides to enter Nabo’s room to look at him.

Nabo once again encounters the saxophonist, who tells him the choir has been waiting for him for centuries already. Nabo refuses to come and instead reflects that it was a mistake to buy the comb for the horse. The saxophonist assures him that it was inevitable, if only so that the choir could welcome him.

The family looks at Nabo and continues to anticipate his death. The girl, who remains physically underdeveloped in adulthood, continues to live with catatonia, staring at the door. One morning, the family hears the gramophone playing again for the first time in 15 years. They find the girl winding the crank. The family reveals that the day before, they suspected that Nabo had died because of a putrefying smell in the room, and because he had stopped singing.

Nabo tells the saxophonist he can’t join the choir because he doesn’t have any shoes. The saxophonist dismisses this concern. Nabo cites his duty to the horses. The saxophonist tells him the horses haven’t needed anyone over the last 15 years. Nabo insists on searching for the comb.

To the family’s surprise, they hear a commotion in Nabo’s room. They see Nabo searching for the comb, as the saxophonist has permitted him to look for it. Nabo bursts out of his room, crashes through the house, and reaches the courtyard. He runs around and scratches the ground, searching for the stable. When Nabo locates and opens the stable doors, the girl, having recognized him during his rampage through the house, gestures at winding the gramophone and calls out Nabo’s name.