Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?: A Memoir

Chast recounts the phone call when George told her that Elizabeth fell while climbing a stepstool to look for the “KING NEPTUNE” certificate. She refused to go to the hospital and was bedridden. Elizabeth had an aversion to doctors, claiming they had a “God complex” and that hospitals were “WHERE YOU GO TO DIE!!!” (60). Despite her usual strength, Elizabeth started experiencing severe abdominal pain, stopped eating, and developed a fever as the days passed. Chast felt helpless: Her mother’s strong personality made it difficult to persuade her to do something she didn’t want to do. On January 4, 2006, Elizabeth was still in bed. Chast eventually convinced her to go to New Jersey, where her sister, a retired nurse, lived. However, Elizabeth soon changed her mind and decided to stay home.

Later that night, Chast received a call, informing her that her parents were at the emergency room at Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn. They were both taken there by ambulance because George couldn’t drive and didn’t want to be left alone. Chast, afraid of driving to Brooklyn by herself at night, waited a few hours before hiring a car service. In the car, she anxiously wondered what awaited her at the hospital.