Slaughterhouse-Five Chapter 2, Section 31 Summary

  • Billy wakes up still feeling drunk from his wild New Year's Eve—back in 1944, with Roland Weary standing over him.
  • Billy tells Weary he's okay and that Weary should just leave him behind.
  • Weary replies that if Billy is okay, he can't imagine what a sick person would look like.
  • The scouts are waiting for Billy and Weary and listening to the sounds of the German soldiers looking for them.
  • Weary tells the scouts that Billy may not want to live, but he's going to anyway, thanks to them, the Three Musketeers.
  • This is the first time the scouts have heard of this whole Three Musketeers business.
  • Billy is busy hallucinating. He imagines that, if everyone were to leave him alone, he would just turn to steam and rise into the air. He dreams that he is wearing warm socks and skating on a ballroom floor, to great applause.
  • The scouts, who are experienced guys, tell Weary and Billy that they had better find someone to surrender to—because the scouts can't wait around for them anymore.
  • So the two scouts leave Weary and Billy alone.