He experiences that gray and cloudy day and sees that the planes are not up. These could be soldier’s thoughts that “there is nothing to do about the old man” and that “that and the fact that cats know how to look after themselves was all the good luck that old man would ever have”.
But this paragraph could be also External Focalization, like the last remark from the anonymous voice situated outside the text. But still it’s closer to Character Focalization. After soldier’s speech with the old man soldier understands that he is powerless to save the life of that old man: “There was nothing to do about him”. It seems that the old man is stuck in the past, all the time he thinks about the animals he had to abandon. He repeats several times “I was taking care of animals” (even speak these words to himself). The soldier understands that it’s difficult to the old man to adapt to the new circumstances or even impossible, so he must leave him in order to save his own life.
…
