The operation takes place. Charlie says it did not hurt. A nurse tells Charlie how to spell “progress” and “report” and “March.” Charlie recalls what happened when they took him into the operation: it was in a big room with windows, doctors and researchers were watching, and he was asleep during the actual procedure. Afterwards, Charlie no longer has to write progress reports every day; he writes them when he needs to and puts the date on top. The nurse who takes care of him, Hilda, tells him the procedure is wrong because the researchers are tampering with nature and God’s work. This gets Charlie scared. Immediately the next day, they have changed his nurse. Alice Kinnian comes in to visit him and encourage him, and tells him to be patient and give the procedure time for its effects to settle in. I suppose giving a person the sense of sight or sound for the first time might be similar.