Where I'm Calling From

Where I'm Calling From Summary | Detailed Summary

The story takes place at an alcoholic rehabilitation facility near California's Sonoma Valley during the period between Christmas Day and New Year's Day. It is the narrator's second visit to the facility, which he refers to as Frank Martin's. Shortly after his arrival, he meets Joe Penny, who wants to be called "J.P." The men have only been at the facility for a few days. J.P. is there for the first time and is surprised to find his hands trembling so much from the sudden lack of alcohol that he cannot use them to make gestures as he talks.

The narrator is distracted by his own physical symptoms, the most worrisome of which is a nerve reaction that makes his shoulder and the side of his neck twitch. He feels that something is about to happen, and he wants to hide from it. He watched a man suffer a seizure at breakfast the day before. The man, Tiny, was telling a story about one of his drunken escapades and then suddenly he was on the floor with his legs twitching and his eyes closed. Tiny was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, and when he returned he was not the same. He did not want to talk about his seizure, and this disappoints the narrator, who wants to know if Tiny had had any warning before it happened. Tiny's experience has made the narrator even more sensitive to the flutters and twitches in his own body and he imagines himself in Tiny's place, lying on the floor, looking up at concerned faces, with somebody's fingers in his mouth so he won't bite his tongue.

The two men - the narrator describes them as drunks - sit outside on the porch at Frank Martin's, smoking cigarettes and flicking their ashes into an old coal bucket. The narrator listens as J.P. tells him about his life and how he came to be at the facility. J.P. begins by talking about how he fell down a dry well when he was twelve years old. He describes how he yelled and yelled for help for a long time, and how being at the bottom of the well had made a lasting impression on him. He describes how he stared at the small blue circle of sky at the top of the well, how a cloud and some birds passed across it, how he listened intently to the rustling of insects in the dirt above him, and heard the sound of the wind. He worried that something would fall on him, and he realized that everything about his life was different at the bottom at the well. Nothing did fall on him, though, and eventually his father found him and pulled him out with a rope. Then his life went on the same as it had before he fell into the well.

J.P. goes on with the narrator's encouragement to talk about how he met his wife when he was nineteen. He was drinking beer at a friend's house when Roxy, a chimney sweep, came to clean the chimney. She was a young and strong woman wearing the traditional top hat of a working chimney sweep, and J.P. fell in love at first sight. He and his friend watched her work, and when she was finished, J.P. followed her outside to ask for a date and to tell her that he wanted to be a chimney sweep too.

The narrator focuses on J.P.'s story, telling him continue and noting that he would have listened to J.P. at that particular moment of his life regardless of what he was talking about. Listening to J.P.'s voice has a calming effect on the narrator and distances him from his own problems.

The following day, after a night of rain, the narrator and J.P. are again on the porch and J.P. describes his courtship of Roxy and their marriage. He tells how he joined the family chimney sweep business to work with his father-in-law and brother-in-law. He had a successful marriage and two children, bought a house, and had everything he ever wanted. Then he started to drink. He started with beer, having a few drinks on his way home from work. Then he graduated to gin-and-tonic. He started to drink on the job and had trouble making it home for dinner. He even started drinking in the morning while brushing his teeth. He became increasingly violent, punching walls and throwing things for no reason.

Just as his drinking escalated, the level of violence in his marriage escalated. Roxy once broke his nose, and he split her lip. They beat each other up in front of their children, but he could not stop drinking. Roxy's father and brother threatened him with a beating if he did not stop, but he could not. Roxy got a boyfriend, and when J.P. found out, he cut her wedding ring into pieces with wire cutters. He was arrested, and his driver's license was taken away so he could not drive to work. Eventually, his father-in-law and brother-in-law hauled him to Frank Martin's and deposited him there, hurrying away as fast as they could.

Both the narrator and J.P. are at Frank Martin's on a voluntary basis. J.P. is there to get his life in order, but he can leave any time. Frank Martin recommended a stay of at least a week and told the narrator that he should think about staying longer. The narrator saw J.P. enter the facility, and they began to talk the next day.

The narrator's experience is different from J.P.'s. This is his second time at the facility, and his girlfriend drove him there in his car. They had been drinking for days, starting the day before Christmas Eve when his girl friend received some bad news about a Pap smear. They went on a binge that lasted until the narrator realized he had to go back into Frank Martin's. He and his girlfriend buy champagne and a bucket of chicken on their way to the facility, trying to make a party of it. When they arrive, the girlfriend returns to the city right away, despite the fact that she is drunk. The narrator wanted her to stay overnight, but he does not blame her for leaving because he knows she has to get back to her job and her teen-aged son, whom he does not like. He also realizes that she has a serious health problem that must be addressed. He speculates that she must have returned home safely, though, or he would have heard something. He believes he will see her again because he left some things at her house. He contrasts his second installment at the facility with the first time he came. His wife brought him in that time and she stayed to have a private talk with Frank Martin.

A day and a half after J.P. arrived at the facility, he and the narrator are sitting on the porch and J.P. is telling his story. Frank Martin himself comes out to smoke a cigar. He is a short, heavy-set man who looks like a prizefighter. In his presence, J.P. stops talking and hunches down in his chair. His behavior surprises the narrator. Frank Martin tells them that Jack London used to live across the valley from the house. He says that Jack London was a better man than any of them was, but he could not fight alcohol and it killed him. He suggests that they read The Call of the Wild, which is available at the house, and then he goes inside. J.P. tells the narrator that Frank Martin makes him feel like a bug. He wishes that he had a great name like Jack London instead of the name he has. It has become too cold to sit on the porch, and a bell just rang to announce dinner, so the men go inside.

On the morning of New Year's Eve, the narrator tries to call his wife but does not get an answer. He wants to talk to her about some things he left at her house. He remembers that the last time they spoke on the phone they had a serious argument that ended in name-calling.

Then the narrator describes a resident of the house that he refers to as "the man who travels." The man says his drinking is under control, that he cannot remember coming to Frank Martin's, and that he does not know why he is there. He says anyone can have a blackout and it does not mean anything. He is not a drunk, he says.

Frank Martin prepares a special meal of steaks for New Year's Eve, knowing that this is a difficult time for the residents. The narrator observes that Tiny is not eating much since his seizure and asks if he can have his steak, which Tiny pushes toward him. Tiny is afraid to leave the facility in case he has another seizure. At midnight, Frank Martin brings in a cake with "Happy New Year" written on it in pink frosting. J.P. has two pieces, while the narrator has one piece and saves one for later.

The narrator tries to call his wife again, but there is no answer. He starts to dial his girlfriend's number but decides that he does not want to talk to her. He hopes she is well, but thinks to himself that if she is sick he does not want to know about it.

On New Year's Day, J.P. and the narrator take their coffee out to the porch where the weather is clear and cold. J.P. is waiting for a visit from his wife and says he will introduce her to the narrator. The men are looking toward the hill where Jack London once lived when Roxy drives up the road. When she gets out of the car, the narrator observes that she is a strong, tall and attractive woman, and remembers that she once broke J.P.'s nose. When they meet, he tells her how he heard about how she and J.P. met. She answers that J.P. probably did not tell him everything, like how he was the best chimney sweep in the business. She wants to take J.P. somewhere away from Frank Martin's to talk, but J.P. says he cannot leave, so they start to go inside the house. As they do, the narrator tells Roxy that he needs some luck and asks her to kiss him. She says she is not a chimney sweep anymore, but she kisses him anyway. Then she and J.P. go inside.

The narrator stays on the porch and notices that his hands are shaking now. He admits to himself that he has the shakes and that he wanted a drink that morning when he awoke. He did not tell J.P. about this because he thought it was too depressing. Then he remembers a house where he once lived with his wife. The house did not have a chimney so he does not know why he remembered it now. One morning he awoke to a scraping noise outside and found that it was his landlord preparing to paint the house. He started early because he wanted to beat the heat. He watched Mr. Venturini, his landlord, from the bedroom for a while before he realized he was standing naked in the window. He remembered how his wife laughed and asked him to come back to bed and how the landlord first just nodded to himself as if he understood the situation, then put on his painter's hat, and climbed his ladder.

The narrator thinks to himself that later in the day he will try to call his wife again and then call his girlfriend. He hopes that her son will not answer the phone. He then tries to remember whether he ever read any Jack London books. He does remember reading a Jack London story called "To Build a Fire." It was about a man who will freeze to death if he does not build a fire to warm himself. The man gets the fire going but then something happens and it goes out. Snow from a branch above falls on it and puts it out. As he thinks about the story, he realizes that it is getting colder on the porch and that night is falling.

He feels the coins in his pocket and decides to try calling his wife again. If she answers, he plans to tell her "Happy New Year" and say nothing else. He will not raise his voice or bring up any problems. He knows she will want to know where he's calling from and that he will have to tell her. He will not talk about New Year's resolutions though. He thinks that after he calls his wife he will also call his girlfriend, or maybe he will call the girlfriend first. He hopes he will not have to talk to her son, and when she answers the phone, he plans just to say, "It's me."