The narrator and Buddy's father go to the Adirondacks to visit Buddy, taking turns driving. It's the day after Christmas and she is depressed. When Mr. Willard tells her that he and Buddy's mother had always wanted a daughter and that no daughter could be nicer than she is, she cries, but not because of what he has said. In this chapter we learn that the narrator's name is Esther. She is surprised to find that Mr. Willard is leaving her at the sanatorium to stay a few days with Buddy and that she will go back on the train alone.
Esther is already a published poet, an extraordinary feat for such a young writer; but throughout their relationship, Buddy has disparaged poetry as being inconsequential. Now he shows her a poem he has.....
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