He did not bother explaining anything about how cars ran—he simply showed her where to put her feet, and made her practice shifting the gears, then said, “Now go, and do what I tell you.”
The first leap of the car terrified her. She ground the gears, and she thought he would put an end to the lesson immediately, but he just laughed.

Neil is finally introduced to Grace near the climax of the story. Neil’s character is defined by erratic whims, in contrast to the predictable routine set by the rest of the Travers family. Maury does not do anything that Grace does not expect, and he would not ever put her in a situation that scared her or made her uncomfortable. But the afternoon with Neil feels real to Grace in a way that Maury does not, and she thinks of herself as being more akin to Neil for that reason. Neil is more like Grace than Maury is because he has experienced pain and trauma. Neil senses Grace’s hunger for new experiences, and he exposes her to new things, such as driving, unconcerned as other people in the story are with what is right, proper, or expected. Although Neil is a tragic character, he is also charming, and the driving lessons reveal he knows exactly what will please Grace. Neil’s charm, however, also reveals that he is excellent at manipulating others, and his lack of concern for Grace’s safety is not as endearing as she initially takes it to be.

It wasn’t the drinking that was responsible. Drinking, needing to drink—that was just some sort of distraction, like everything else, from the thing that was waiting, no matter what, all the time.

At the end of the story, Grace has an epiphany about Neil’s drinking that reveals how much he suffers internally and contextualizes his tragic death at the end of the story. Neil is always chasing distractions, always looking for something to fill the emptiness inside him, so this quote is not only about the alcohol but about all his erratic behaviors. In contrast to the alcoholism that the other characters point the blame at, Grace sees that the issue is not so easily classified. The drinking is a symptom of the problem instead of the problem itself. This quote reveals that Grace can see the depth in Neil that Mrs. Travers refers to earlier in the story and explains why she was so worried about him. Neil shakes Grace from floating along with Maury’s desires by demonstrating that failing to recognize her own internal issues leads to a life of escapism and pain.