Durham is a young, part-time instructor, preparing young men for officers’ training in the United States Navy. He’s rather insecure about being a young civilian teaching men to be Naval officers. One morning, one of his students, Mr. Lawrence, runs out of his room laughing. At the end of class, another student comes up to talk to Durham, and tells him that he should keep in mind that many of the students are young and were drinking the night before.

The next afternoon, Durham sees Mr. Lawrence again. He sees that Lawrence has the Purple Heart, and also that Lawrence is extremely drunk. After Lawrence passes, he runs into a moving car. Durham runs to him and, despite Lawrence’s insistence that he is okay, Durham makes another student help walk Lawrence to the barracks. The other student tells Durham that Lawrence doesn’t have any friends, barely talks, and is always drunk. He has what they call the “thousand yard stare,” — a far off look in their eye that people get when they’ve had too much Pacific duty. Lawrence tells them to leave him alone, and the other student eagerly leaves.

Lawrence walks over to some bushes and tries to throw up. Durham helps him, and then leaves him hidden in the bushes to sleep. He starts heading towards the popular places that the young college kids would be eating at that time. He knows he will look lonely eating alone, but he no longer cares.