A Day's Wait Summary

A nine-year-old boy comes into the room, where his father notices he looks ill. He says he simply has a headache, and the father suggests he go back to bed. The boy argues that he is fine, and that he doesn't want to go to bed. It is revealed that the boy has a fever, so his father calls the doctor. When the doctor arrives, he takes the boys temperature, which is 102 degrees. The doctor gives the boy some medicine. To make him feel better, his father reads him a book about pirates. The objective of reading the book was to put the boy to sleep, but he simply stared at the foot of the bed. The boy insists the father leave if it is bothering him, but he remains in the room. The father thought that the boy may feel lightheaded, so he left to give the boy some privacy. The father went outside and walked their dog. It was a cold, brisk day so he decided to hunt some quail to kill time until heading back to the house. He killed two quail and missed five during the hunt, but was pleased to have found a covey close to the house and happy there were so many left for a future hunt. When the father returned home, he discovered that the boy wouldn't let anyone in to see him, claiming they would become ill as he was. He took the boy's temperature, which was around 100 degrees. The boy worried that the pills prescribed by the doctor wouldn't be of any help. The father decided to continue reading from the boy's book, but the boy continued not to pay attention. The boy asked how long he had left to live. The father argued that the boy was fine, who continued to say that he was going to die. He believed this because he heard from several boys at school in France that if your temperature reached 44 degrees, you would die. His dad, relieved, said that the boys in France measured temperature with celsius, and that his 102 degree fever was in farenheit. He explained to the boy that he was not going to die. The boy finally relaxed, but became upset easily the following day over little things.