Nobody understands Peter, nor does he feel appreciated. He has just learned that he is adopted and that a baby is on the way. "I knew they would love the baby more than me," he asserts. Also, as the novel begins, Peter is dead, and he finds his funeral not particularly satisfying. His parents point out that he was impulsive, acting without thinking, and that there was nothing Mrs. Hazelton could have done to avoid running him over. Even in death, it seems, he is insulted by those closest to him.

Why Peter would want to go back to his old life is not entirely clear. While he liked being able smell and taste while alive, everybody was mean to him. Peter says, "But after Mom found out she was going to have a baby, when I was eleven, I could never do anything...