Louis Sears, the American Ambassador to Sarkhan, studies a cartoon in the Sarkhan Eastern Star. He believes the cartoon is a caricature of him. It shows a short, fat, American man leading a thin Sarkhanese man toward a sign that says “Coca Cola” (2) with a tether around his neck. Under the American in the cartoon is the word “Lucky” (2). “Lucky, Lucky Louis” was his nickname while he served as an American senator. When he lost his seat after three terms, the government appointed him as the ambassador to Sarkhan, a small country “out toward Burma and Thailand” (4). The cartoons mocking his weight started soon after his arrival. 

Margaret Johnson, the press attaché at the embassy, tells Sears that a powdered milk delivery man named John Colvin has suffered a severe beaten. The attackers left his body on the steps on the embassy the previous night with a note saying he has been molesting Sarkhanese girls. Sears agrees to see Colvin at the hospital but does not think the situation is serious enough to harm him politically. 

Colvin wakes in the hospital and remembers what happened to him. He reminisces about his earlier experiences in the war.