i can somewhat relate to larry underwood as he is in the opening of chapter 19. i've been gone from my hometown for a long time and now when i return, it seems like a foreign land. that's how larry sees times square now: he thought the years would have changed it into something magical but instead it still looked rank and dangerous, the same as it always did, which is a bit unsettling for larry. now it was the same and different, all the old crappy stuff replaced by new crappy stuff. gone is the penny arcade and the newsstand; in their places now lurk massage parlors and x-rated movie theaters. he feels now like a tourist instead of a son of the city, a homeless soul, not at home in los angeles, no longer at home in new york city.
alice underwood is home from work with a bad cold (uh oh), the guest on the news show has the sneezies (double uh oh), heck, larry even recalls the abnormal number of coughing folks on the subway train (triple uh oh). he calls back to L.A. and discovers his buddy wayne is in the hospital with a nasty flu bug. (nice knowing you, wayne.) he also finds out that there's a nice chunk of cash waiting for him in a bank back in california.
larry returns home to find his mother collapsed on the floor, burning up with fever and delirious. she's telling larry to go to the bar and find his father, tell him to come home, he's there with the photographer! i wonder if mr. underwood was stepping out on alice? i dont think the book ever says that specifically but i guess we can infer that he was unfaithful. maybe that's why larry was hesitant to tell his mom that he was out with the dental hygienist? maybe mom has little use for men who just run around without the benefit of some semblance of commitment. so larry calls for an ambulance but just gets an answering machine at the hospital. things must be pretty hectic at the ER if they have a machine picking up the calls. larry is at a loss as to what to do, having never been in this kind of situation before, and decides to go to the hospital to find out what's going on. before he leaves, he goes to a neighbor, mr. freeman, to ask him to sit with alice while larry is gone. the chapter ends with larry approaching the neighbor's door.
chapter 20 is pretty cut and dry: we're back in maine with frannie, who is in a sort of mental limbo about her situation. she tries to type a letter to a friend but it seems more of a chore than a pleasure. she's already arranged a place to live (number 3 in a roommate situation) so that burden is lifted. she thinks that being away from her hometown and her parents (even her father) would be a relief; she feels like she needs to be on the defensive, almost like she expects that everyone is whispering about her or looking at her, or if they arent, that they WILL be. hmm, paranoia anyone? she gets a call from jess and she pretty much tells him she doesnt want anything from him. he insists that he wants to be there to help, but frannie feels like he's just doing it out of obligation, not because he actually wants to. hmm, skepticism anyone?
a phone call from her dad reveals that mother goldsmith is sick with a cold; in fact, she's been asking for it, running herself ragged with all her clubs and social events and even sleeping upright in the parlor the night before after her confrontation with frannie. remembering the whole incident makes frannie feel guilty, thinking that may have contributed to her mom falling ill even though she saw the haggard, run-down look her mother had even when she returned from college to visit. even though they fought and she's never really been close to her mother, frannie still doesnt want her to be sick and is worried about carla. on the way out the door to go visit carla, the phone rings again. frannie has a premonition of sorts that it's her father calling to say that her mother is worse. guilt weighs even heavier on frannie's heart. sure enough, it's peter goldsmith, and he's fighting back tears. carla is in the hospital, taken by ambulance, and peter is near hysteria. peter also tells frannie that the ambulances were busy and that there was a waiting list for the sick to be picked up. chapter 20 concludes with frannie waiting for her father to pick her up so they can go to the hospital to see carla.
so alice underwood and carla goldsmith are sick, while larry, frannie, and peter are not. hundreds of others are sick too; the hospitals in ogunquit and new york city are full!
