The chapter opens with a flashback to the previous chapter, in which Dr. Bledsoe tells the story of how he came to the conclusion that the K virus was present in the body of a young man who had been infected by the same strain of the virus that had infected the young man's father. The young man, who is now the father of the boy, is now in pain from the infection, and Bledsloe tells the boy that he is the only person in the world who has the ability to cure the disease. The boy, however, is unable to cure his father because he has been blinded by the light of the sun, and he cannot see his father's reflection in the mirror