Lucky me, I thought as I was taken to a hospital tent and hooked up to about three dozen machines. I was brought a dinner of surprisingly good minestrone soup and a tasteless roll that I ate anyway because I was ravenous. “There’s tea if you want,” the young orderly said to me when she delivered my tray, “but we ran out of coffee last week.”

“That’s fine,” I said. I’d never been a coffee drinker.

After dinner, most of the other patients in the ward turned their attention to the huge television set that was set up in one corner. The screen was hooked up to an old -fashioned DVD player. There was a stack of square plastic cases next to the TV. The young orderly was sifting through them.

“Y’all want Titanic or Scarface...

Please subscribe to keep reading.