John's mother has been ill for several months, during which he has grown to understand the 'world of sickness.' Even though he is only fifteen, he knows what his mother needs - her medicines, when to open the windows, and how to speak to her without pity and fear. The only thorn in his side is his sister Lillian, who is 'high-strung' and cannot help controlling everything. The doctor tells the siblings that their mother will die of cancer. Lillian fights this prognosis, while John leaves them to the argument, having accepted this fact as inevitable. He lies to his mother about this conversation so that she doesn't get upset - but things begin to spiral out of control when Lillian asks the preacher to come to their house. Their mother is horrified, but she tries to put on a brave face and tolerate the visit of the holy man who prays over her body like she is already dead. John does his best to cut the visit short, but he is unsuccessful in the face of Lillian's forceful personality. One day, John goes to the grocery store, and when he comes home, Lillian tells him that their mother has fallen into a coma. The abruptness of this revelation shocks him - John had been expecting endless days of waiting by his mother's side, envisioning a time in which they could grow closer and unite against Lillian's tactless way of running things. Having been robbed of this dream, it is now John who cannot come to terms with his mother's illness and Lillian who accepts it as a fact. Gazing into his mother's pale face, he leans over the sickbed and blames her for leaving him and going where he cannot follow.