Told in alternating present and past chapters, Cohen is present at his father's death, but we don't know if it is intentional or accidental. He chooses to leave the scene and go to his nephew's baseball game so someone else will find the body. Past chapters tell us the father was a preacher and Cohen was a bored 9 year old during church, but not during the religious classes held by a beautiful teacher. Somehow it is all tied together.