Chapters 3 and 4 Summary

Chapter 3 - At the hospital, the glass-eyed doctor tells Bird that they'll know nothing definite about the baby's condition until after the brain surgeon has finished his examination - or, if the baby dies before the examination is finished, the autopsy. He suggests that Bird come back the following afternoon, but before Bird leaves, he calls his mother-in-law, who tells him not to come to the maternity hospital (where his wife is resting), as she might get suspicious. Bird is relieved to not have to face his wife with the truth right away, and goes to visit his father-in-law, a professor, at his university, contemplating as he goes the nature of his baby's life (see "Quotes", p. 28). Bird finds him in the company of three junior professors who, Bird thinks, are living the kind of life he would be living if...