Because he is sick with the flu and, more importantly, because he has misunderstood the doctor's reading of his temperature, Schatz has become "detached." His face is white from the high temperature, and he soon displays an attitude of hopelessness. Instead of sleeping, he sits staring "strangely," preferring to stay awake. He seems worried that he is bothering his father, who he assumes would rather be doing something else. So, the father takes a break and goes hunting, flushing a covey of quail before returning. Still flushed himself, Schatz is still staring as he was before. He does not want his father to enter the room, fearing that he will catch what the boys has. He asks the father if the medicine wil do any good, and then he asks when he is going to die. Schatz did not understand when the doctor told his father that his temperature was 102 degrees: Schatz was used to the centigrade scale, but the American doctor was using the Fahrenheit scale. The next day, Schatz relaxed a bit, but "he cried very easily at little things that were of no importance."