Hillbilly Elegy

102 until I crossed the state line. I made
the thirteen-hour trip in just under eleven
hours.
When I arrived at Middletown
Regional Hospital at eleven in the
evening, my entire family was gathered
around Mamaw’s bed. She was
unresponsive, and though her lung had
been reinflated, the infection that had
caused it to collapse showed no signs of
responding to treatment. Until that
happened, the doctor told us, it would be
torture to wake her—if she could be
awakened at all.
We waited a few days for signs that
the infection was surrendering to the
medication. But the signs showed the