The chapter opens with a description of the spring break schedule for the following year. The narrator introduces his father, Jeshurun, and his daughter, Emily, who are both students at the local public school. They are planning to go on spring break together, but they are interrupted by the arrival of the engine of the school bus, which has gone out. The girls decide to stay overnight in the town where the school is located, but Jeshuran is concerned about his daughter's health. He asks the girl where she is going, and the girl tells him that she has been away for a long time, and has not returned yet. She tells her father that she saw bunches of flowers fall into the trees, and she asks him to hurry up and get the bus out of the way. She also tells him to stop shaking her, because she is sick. She asks him if he is all right, and he tells her that he is. He tells her to get on the bus and go to the nearest town, but she refuses to go there, saying that the town is too far away, and that they can stay overnight there if they do not like it there. She