Slaughterhouse-Five Chapter 9, Section 29 Summary

  • The porn shop is run by five apparently identical short, bald guys.
  • These five guys and Billy Pilgrim are the only ones in the store without an erection.
  • A clerk tells Billy these Kilgore Trout novels are window dressing—what Billy really wants is in the back.
  • Billy goes toward the back of the store, but he keeps reading the Trout novel.
  • The hero of the novel travels back in time because he wants to know if Jesus really died on the cross or if he was taken down while he was still alive.
  • The time-traveler gets to Jesus' cross just when he is about to be taken down. He grabs a ladder and climbs up to check Jesus' heartbeat with a stethoscope.
  • Jesus' heart is not beating. He is absolutely dead.
  • The time-traveler also measures how tall Jesus is. He is five foot three.