with his head inclined to the giant ear of larch's phonograph, fuzzy--six, thin, and pale and looking remarkably like an embryo--is listening to a recording. he can't hear what larch and homer are saying about him as they construct a humidified tent over a small hospital bed on wheels. the humidifier is operated by a car battery.
on his bed, larch is taking ether. we hear the refrain from the boys in the bunk room over.
larch lies in bed with his eyes open.
a song plays on the old phonograph as a happy larch and angela dance. edna interrupts them.
larch sits on his ether-bed with a letter from homer in his hand. he looks completely deflated. angela is standing in the doorway.
music is playing on the old phonograph as an exhausted larch gives himself ether.
larch has twisted himself on the narrow bed so that his face is unusually close to the windowsill, and when the ether cone starts to fall off his face--and his slack hand trails down, off the side of the bed--the cone becomes caught against the windowsill.
angela enters. she feels for larch's pulse; larch is dead. angela opens a window. she pull's larch's body away from the windowsill. buster joins her on the bed.