- Miss Gerard tells Hip good morning. He doesn't want to talk, thinking about how he wants coffee. They basically play the silent game a while, she just being patient, he just being stubborn.
- He finally points out he slept in his clothes. She tells him to drink his coffee, as if able to read his mind. The beauty of nature's sunlight nurtures him.
- Hip showers, breaking off some buttons while removing his clothes. In the shower, he abruptly remembers someone's voice commanding him to get sick and sicker. He angrily asks aloud whose voice it is. Is it time for more Twilight Zone music?
- Alicia cooks him a perfect breakfast, repairs his buttons, and tends to his hurt but healing arm.
- The novel describes the beauty outside and the inside of the room: quiet, patient, and somehow guarding itself as Hip heals.
- He and Miss Gerard take a short, quiet walk outside. She makes him dinner, tells him goodnight, and goes to sleep in a room across the hall. This is all short and sweet and simple, but what's going on, you have to wonder. Especially as their routine repeats for a few days.