This first page of the novel is an official document that includes basic information about Crabbe. This hospital chart from St. Bartholomew’s General Hospital identifies the date as November 15, identifies the patient as Franklin Crabbe, and lists details of his diagnosis, including “physical exhaustion,” “pneumonia,” “injury to left hand: two fingers amputated,” and “general evidence of exposure” (7).

The narrator, Franklin Crabbe, explains that he passes his time in the hospital by listening to the night sounds on the hospital ward and watching the highway. His boring daily routine is only relieved by his sparring with his psychiatrist, Dr. Browne. Crabbe does not want therapy and finds Browne to be ineffective. Crabbe observes that “[l]ike most grownups, he thinks teenagers are basically stupid and easily manipulated,” which Crabbe opposes with the idea that teenagers are actually deeply knowledgeable about their own feelings (11). Crabbe’s aim is to control his interactions with Browne.

He then describes his last session, during which Dr. Browne warns him about the dangers of smoking and asks him where he got the pipe Crabbe smokes during their sessions. Crabbe lies when he states that he read a scientific article that says pipe-smoking is less unhealthy than other forms of smoking and that he cannot remember where he got the pipe.