Summary

Chapter 6 opens with the narrator telling the reader that Ted has not seen his father, Mitch, in five years. Ted recalls the time when Mitch gave him a negative response to one of his manuscripts to try to convince him to write poetry. This thought leads into Ted recalling the time when he brought a 667 page manuscript named "Magnum Opie" to his agent. The agent, Andrew, explained that his deconstructive work is about nothing and is not good because he had not experienced tragedy, like Vietnam, which Ted did not participate in due to his eyesight. Ted left the office glowing due to the fact that Andrew called him a writer.

Ted gets to the hospital and is greeted by the nurse, Mariana, by calling him Lord Fenway, an inside joke from his father. Mariana explains that they had to pump Mitch's stomach...