Educated: A Memoir

Westover reflects on her father’s accident. During her phone call with Audrey, Westover learned that Gene’s face and fingers were badly burned in an explosion on a work site. Somehow, Gene crawled home. When the family found him, he had no skin on his face and hands. Faye tried tinctures and essential oils to treat him, but he could not swallow anything; his insides were charred. She wanted to take him to the hospital, but he whispered that he would “rather die than see a doctor” (224). The first night after the accident, Gene’s heart stopped twice. No one thought he would survive.

Although Audrey told her to hurry, Westover waited to go to Buck’s Peak. She was afraid she would give Gene strep throat and make things worse. Faye called and said that she did not think the strep would matter. She believed Gene would not make it, so Westover drove home.

Westover was shocked by her father’s appearance when she arrived home. He had not eaten for three days, and Faye was beginning to panic. She called a hospital and asked if they would give her an IV, but the doctor offered to send a chopper to take them to the hospital instead.