- Black asks White if he's ever read the Bible, and it turns out he hasn't—not in full, anyway.
- But White has read a lot of books—about a hundred a year for almost forty years. So there.
- Black acts like he's having trouble multiplying this to get a total of four thousand, but he's totally joking. He's a actually a whiz at numbers (explaining that they're "the black man's friend"), and can multiply large quantities instantly, which he does for the professor's amusement. He says he had time to practice this ability in jail.
- They get back to discussing the Bible. Black asks White how he could avoid reading the Bible, since it might be the greatest book of all time.
- White states that War and Peace and The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire might be candidates for the greatest book.
- However, he finally has to admit that while The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is a truer book than the Bible, it isn't a better one. He admits that the Bible might actually be the greatest book of all time.
- When Black asks White why he's read so many good books but not the best one, White says he has to go.
- Black's worried he might go back to the train station, though, so when White asks him if he has work to go to, Black explains that they won't mind if he doesn't show.
- White is mystified by what happened at the train station earlier—he says he didn't see Black, and specifically made sure that no one was around.
- Black cracks a joke about being a "big black angel" sent to save White, but White says that's not what he meant since he doesn't believe in angels.