This story is an intriguing, frank, and pithy rendering of complex reactions to the dying of loved ones. Hempel’s clipped style and the ironic humor of the friends’ interchanges serve only to emphasize the seriousness of the situation. The friends confront imminent death and loss in the tone that has characterized their relationship since college days, which seem not to be very far behind them.

Al Jolson is buried in the cemetery where the dying girl will be buried; his blackface mask may symbolize the "show" that everyone, including the doctors, is putting on. Underneath the banter, underneath the surgical masks, is grief laden with fear. The narrator, who has a history of fearfulness (of flying, of earthquakes) fears her friend’s death, but also fears that she will die by exposure to it. The dying friend, who has always been fearless, is afraid to die alone.

The narrator must rescue herself by not staying to watch--or actively help--her friend die. Indeed, the narrator views her friend as already dead ("she was moved to the cemetery"), so what is the point? Another form of rescue, and expiation of guilt, is in the "retelling" of these events, to which the narration draws attention by switching back and forth from the past to the present tense. Storytelling provides options for different behaviors, and provides explanations. In addition, the story serves as a memorial--reinforced by Hempel’s dedication underneath the title: "for Jessica."

This is a work to which young adults can readily relate. It could be paired with Chana Block’s poem, Visiting Hours Are Over (for a hospital visitor’s reaction) and Tim O’Brien’s story, Good Form (for the value of retelling and the nature of narrative truth)--both pieces are annotated in this database.