die quickly, so that I could get away from his sly, bloodshot and terrified eyes and see something cheerful and amusing, like the Rachel he had mentioned, who lived a mile down the road.

 "Why," I said, "if there had been a man about working miracles like that, we should have heard of others, you may be sure. Even poked away in this God-forsaken spot," I said.  "There were some others," he said. "But the stories only went round among the poor, and they'll believe anything, won't they? There were lots of diseased and crippled they said he'd cured. And there was a man, who'd been born blind, and he came and just touched his eyelids, and sight came to him. Those were all old wives' tales, weren't they?" he asked me, stammering with fear, and then lying suddenly still and bunched up at the side of the bed.

• This boy that is dying is turning religious and looking for forgiveness for what he has done.
• Now I see references to Jesus and the miracles he performed and I'm starting to wonder if perhaps the sick man had been cured by Jesus. The author wants us to ponder the possibilities of miracles as well as the chance that maybe the man has healing abilities? The author expects us to react by know what he is talking about when he is talking the miracles that Jesus had performed.
• I'm so lost...I think she is talking about religion and the afterlife but I really don't know
• I think the author is getting into serious talks about religion.
• He is going delusional now and does not know what is happening around him. He wants a miracle to happen, and he wants to survive whatever is going on with him. He thinks that what he did, can somehow be cured.
• it seems as though the friend or "old man" isn't enjoying visiting his dying friend, he just wants to leave. The son seems to think there is this man, mentioned throughout the poor, that can heal people, maybe the son is seeking help to find this man to heal him since the doctor cant help this time.
• He keeps talking about all of these girls and it's making me think that he rapes all these innocent girls, and then they spread rumours about it and everyone finds out, which makes him want to die. Maybe he just wants to die after all of the horrible things he has done in his past, and can't get rid of them.
• Now the narrator said "die quickly" I think this is not appropriate to say to a friend who is dying. But I can interpret that it is a wish of compassion because he doesn't want to see his friend in agony.
• Does this man really want to die?
• the guy seems to not feel sorry for the son and is just saying the stuff to comfort him so he can die in peace
• I continue to wonder what kinds of people these two men are because they just seem like low lives to me.. The sick man continues to ramble on about God and he seems genuinely scared about dying and being left to deal with the consequences of his life.
• It sounds as if they are now referring to jesus. Their dialogue is all over the place and difficult to follow and I'm not sure if that is because the way I am reading the story or if it is because the story is truly hard to follow. I think the author expects us to have sympathy for the dying man and in a way I do even though I think he is a horrible person based on what I previously read about him.
• Here, the sick man speaks of how miracles have been known to happen and references Jesus and some of his actions. You can tell the man is divided because he believes that a miracle brought him back to life but he doesn't want to believe that because he thinks if all the stories of the Bible are true, he'll be headed to hell.
• I don't know what to say to this.
• It almost seems like the narrator can't wait for the man to die. The narrator is describing miracles performed by Jesus.
• I think the miracles he's referring to here are from the Bible even furthering my questioning of him possibly being a priest or religious figure.
• This guy is not his true friend if he really wants him to die just so doesn't have to hear him go on about death anymore. The son is referencing Jesus in the last paragraph hoping that he will come and cure him of his sickness.
• im now thinking with the narrator is going to kill the young man to take him out of his sufferings. the young man is trying to find a way to stay alive but says he isnt frightened by dying so we have to see why he is staying alive?
• Alright so are they talking about Jesus? Is this a religious story? The term 'religion' has been mentioned a few times already here, and now they're talking about a doctor that can preform miracles?
• Why does the narrator want this man to die so quickly? Is Rachel going to be important at all to the story?
• Also, why is this dying man still so frightened?
• "But the stories only went round among the poor, and they'll believe anything, won't they?" This is giving the son an excuse or reasoning for what has happened and is happening to him
• Why does he think the poor will believe anything?
• It sounds as though they are talking about some Jesus-like character here, and yet it doesn't look like he was very popular in the story, despite Christianity's popularity.
• I believe now that the ill individual is scared to die because he's thinking about stories that happened in the Bible.
• The old man wishes his friend die faster cause he is getting annoyed, which makes me think he is not a very good friend after all.
• The more I am reading this story, the more I start to see things differently. At first I told myself that the friend was acting that way because he felt bad, but now it is as though the friend wants the sick friend to just die already. But the friend is not ready to die and is frightened. This sequence does not make me react a certain, but I do believe that the author is trying to make us see why the two characters are they way they are and why they say what they say.
• The more I am reading this story, the more I start to see things differently. At first I told myself that the friend was acting that way because he felt bad, but now it is as though the friend wants the sick friend to just die already. But the friend is not ready to die and is frightened. This sequence does not make me react a certain, but I do believe that the author is trying to make us see why the two characters are they way they are and why they say what they say.
• Religion (or the lack therefore) presented itself in different areas of the story but here it begins to take shape. The friend shares a story of a man curing the ill, widely believed to be an old wives' tale, although this figure sounds very God-like and aligns with a lot of our own beliefs; a man working miracles by saving the lives of others if he so desires, and an afterlife the story (or at least the friends story) often alludes to. The narrator was afraid his friend was turning religious and this seems to be the turning point.
• Who is this man that they think is working these miracle's on people?
• I'm assuming they are talking about God or some equivalent of God in this section. I found it interesting that they related being poor with being gullible by saying "stories went round among the poor, and they'll believe anything,