Chona lay comatose in a pri­vate hos­pi­tal room, cour­tesy of a wealthy the­ater own­er from Philadel­phia who sought exclu­siv­i­ty, much to the irri­ta­tion of the nurs­es. These staff mem­bers eyed Chona and her nurse­maid with sus­pi­cion, as they were not accus­tomed to such patients on their floor—particularly not with a mix of wealthy Jews and numer­ous Negroes vis­it­ing. For four days, Chona remained unre­spon­sive, albeit Addie sensed a flick­er of life with­in her. She con­fid­ed this feel­ing to Moshe when he arrived with Nate, both of whom looked exhaust­ed after per­form­ing “Ham­let” with a Yid­dish the­ater troupe.

As Moshe sat qui­et­ly by Chona’s bed­side, Addie observed her friend’s recur­rent mum­blings in the morn­ing, rem­i­nis­cent of a prayer or hymn from her Jew­ish faith. After some cau­tious con­ver­sa­tion out­side the room, Addie and Nate dis­cussed the woe­ful sit­u­a­tion sur­round­ing Doc Roberts, who was under scruti­ny for alleged mis­con­duct but was backed by the hos­pi­tal’s white staff. Nate dis­cour­aged Addie from break­ing her silence about what she saw, insist­ing it was “white folks’ busi­ness.”

The con­ver­sa­tion shift­ed to Nate’s son, Dodo, who had been placed in a facil­i­ty far from their reach. Addie pushed for action, believ­ing they should seek help from Moshe or even Rev­erend Sprig­gs, but Nate was dubi­ous of their effec­tive­ness. With Addie’s insis­tence and emo­tion­al sup­port, she urged Nate to vis­it Dodo, sug­gest­ing he pick up some sup­plies for their son. As they shared their bur­dens amidst the stark real­i­ties of racial injus­tice and per­son­al anguish, Nate felt the pres­sure of uncer­tain­ty and anger. Yet, Addie’s com­fort­ing pres­ence remind­ed him of their endur­ing bond, even as he strug­gled to con­front the sys­tem that kept them down. Ulti­mate­ly, Nate hes­i­tat­ed but com­mit­ted to think­ing about his vis­it to Dodo, indi­cat­ing a glim­mer of hope amidst their tur­moil.

In Chap­ter 16, titled “The Vis­it,” Chona, a Jew­ish woman from Pottstown, lies comatose in a pri­vate room at the Read­ing hos­pi­tal, her care arranged by a wealthy the­ater own­er from Philadel­phia. Amidst the nurs­es’ dis­dain for the diverse vis­i­tors and the care team, the nar­ra­tive reveals a tense rela­tion­ship with the hos­pi­tal staff who dis­ap­prove of the racial and social mix­ing. Addie, along­side Chona’s hus­band Moshe and their friend Nate, keeps watch, hope­ful for Chona’s recov­ery despite doc­tors’ grim prog­no­sis.

Addie believes Chona exhibits signs of life each morn­ing, a belief she shares with Moshe when he arrives exhaust­ed from his the­ater respon­si­bil­i­ties. Their pri­vate dis­cus­sions and obser­va­tions of Chona’s con­di­tion under­score their ded­i­ca­tion and hope, con­trast­ing with the bleak hos­pi­tal envi­ron­ment and the nurs­es’ prej­u­diced whis­pers.

The chap­ter also delves into a sub­plot involv­ing a scan­dalous event at a store, hint­ed to involve inap­pro­pri­ate behav­ior by a Dr. Roberts towards Chona, lead­ing to her cur­rent health cri­sis. Addie and Nate dis­cuss their frus­tra­tion with the injus­tice and racism per­va­sive in their com­mu­ni­ty, reveal­ing the com­plex­i­ties of their lives beyond Chona’s hos­pi­tal room.

Amidst their per­son­al strug­gles, Addie’s ded­i­ca­tion to Chona and her fam­i­ly reveals her char­ac­ter’s depth and resilience. She con­tends with soci­etal racism and the per­son­al chal­lenges of sup­port­ing her friends in a hos­tile envi­ron­ment. The nar­ra­tive weaves themes of hope, despair, and the fight against injus­tice, por­trayed through the lens of char­ac­ters grap­pling with their cir­cum­stances.

As the chap­ter con­cludes, Addie and Nate’s reflec­tions on their sit­u­a­tion under­score the broad­er soci­etal issues they face, par­tic­u­lar­ly racial inequal­i­ty and the mis­use of pow­er. Their deter­mi­na­tion to sup­port Chona, along­side their per­son­al bat­tles, paints a poignant pic­ture of friend­ship and resilience in the face of adver­si­ty.