Summary

In “The Hospital Where,” the unnamed narrator was asked by his father to drive him to the hospital because of a mysterious arm pain. The narrator claimed he felt “the mark of the Twelve-tongued God” (67) burning on his back. After arriving at the hospital, the narrator sent his father in first while he parked the car. The narrator entered the hospital and asked a nurse for directions, but she was unhelpful. He then asked a security guard, who directed him to the emergency room. On his way there, the narrator passed two men in wheelchairs sitting in a hallway, both hooked up to machines. In the ER waiting room, an Italian family sat together looking grim. The narrator found his father and sat beside him, then took out a literary magazine to reread a short story written by a...