The US attorney general announces ways that citizens can combat Jes Grew. Dancing in the Jes Grew style is made a federal crime.

Von Vampton climbs the steps toward Abdul’s office; “Safecracker” Gould follows just behind. Von Vampton introduces himself as the publisher of the Benign Monster magazine. Abdul scolds him for using his picture in the magazine without his permission. Von Vampton says that he was trying to give Abdul some good press.

Von Vampton is at Abdul’s office because he is seeking the Jes Grew anthology. Abdul says he doesn’t have it. Gould threatens him, pulling out a pistol. Gould then tries to reach the safe, and Abdul struggles to prevent him from accessing it. Von Vampton stabs Abdul in the back, killing him. They open the safe, which is empty. They call Musclewhite, who says he will hurry over to remove the body.

LaBas enters Abdul’s headquarters. He looks over the items on Abdul’s desk. There are newspapers and magazines with contributions from well-known Black intellectuals. There are also works of art that depict the subjugation of Africans. This sends LaBas on an internal tangent about how African artists incorporate satire and humor into their work, while Christian traditions are sterner and more serious, creating a weight he wishes could be lifted from Black people.

LaBas finds Abdul’s body lying face down. Nearby is a rejection slip that provides reasons why the publisher turned down the anthology. The publisher is drawn to the mystical writing but currently “the market is overwrought with this kind of book” (98). There is a piece of paper in Abdul’s fist. On it is a poem titled “Epigram on American-Egyptian Cotton.” It reads: “Stringy lumpy; Bales dancing / Beneath this center / Lies the bird” (98).

LaBas calls the police. They say they’ve already dispatched services. LaBas finds this strange because it means someone else has already seen the body. He suspects the murder has something to do with the anthology.

The next day, Von Vampton reads a headline in the Sun that claims Abdul deserved his fate while suggesting the Mu’tafikah is responsible for the murder. Von Vampton and Gould head into Buddy Jackson’s cabaret. Von Vampton recognizes Major Young, “a young man who is gaining a wide audience” (101). Von Vampton praises Young’s poetry, comparing it to Whitman. Young disagrees with the comparison and says, “Whitman never wrote about Harlem” (101). Von Vampton tells him that he runs the Benign Monster and that he would love it if Young wrote something for it “in dialect with lots of razzledazzle in it” (102). Inadvertently insulted by a string of comments, Young rejects the offer and returns to his friends. Gould refers to the “New Negroes” as “uppity” and “arrogant” (102). Still, Gould does not consider their efforts in the cabaret to be a total loss because he has recorded notes on some Black dances, which might be useful as part of their anti-Jes Grew mission.