Summary

"Triumph Over the Grave" begins with the narrator writing about an experience eating at a diner in San Francisco when he notices a woman in the reflection of the mirror at the bar who looks a lot like one of his friends, Nan, Robert’s wife, which prompts him to give Nan a call. He calls Nan only to learn that Robert has just died of a heart attack. He hangs up and writes down as much of their conversation as he can into his notebook. Leaving his breakfast unfinished, he heads off to the hospital where he had dropped off a friend, Linkewits, or Link, for some tests. Link is dying, and so the narrator has spent the last several weeks taking care of him. As he sits in the waiting room he finishes his account of his trip...