Didion sits in the hospital with Quintana whose head is shaved and covered in a long scar from her neurosurgery. When she gains consciousness, Quintana asks Didion how long her mother will stay, and Didion assures her that she will stay until she and Quintana can leave the hospital together. It occurs to Didion that this is a promise that she cannot keep. She remembers her own mother’s death and how she held on because she believed her children still needed her, even though Didion and her brother were in their sixties.

Didion’s friends and families believe that Quintana’s situation is one which can be cured by good management. They want to know Didion’s plan and the prognosis, but Didion understands that this is one of those few instances in life that cannot be solved by logic and planning. The cause of the bleeding on the brain is unknown and Didion rationally understands that the cause is unimportant. However, she cannot help but be lured by the need to control the situation and to understand every detail.

Didion studies a copy of Intensive Care: A Doctor’s Journal by John F. Murray and learns valuable lessons about how intensive care units work, gaining a better understanding of her daughter’s condition.