The narrator is a highly anxious woman visiting her terminally ill former college roommate in the hospital. She suffers from intense phobias, particularly a fear of flying and a hypervigilance regarding earthquakes. To cope with the uncomfortable hospital environment, she mentally distances herself by imagining the hospital surveillance as bank security and fantasizing about escaping to the beach in a convertible.

The narrator's former college roommate is receiving long-term care for a terminal disease at a California hospital. Historically adventurous and fearless, she trusts the laws of aerodynamics and casually eats macadamia nuts during airplane turbulence. In the hospital, she attempts to manage her situation by employing gallows humor and demanding lighthearted conversation, though her vulnerability eventually breaks through.

The nurse is a dedicated caregiver at the hospital who attends to the terminally ill patient. She notes that the two women look like sisters, unintentionally highlighting the emotional distance the narrator feels. She represents the ongoing, daily care that the patient requires and the new intimacies formed in the hospital.

The doctor oversees the terminally ill friend's medical care. He maintains an easy rapport with his patient, engaging willingly in her dark humor rather than offering forced cheer. He seems mildly charmed by her and recognizes the emotional toll the visits take on the narrator.

Al Jolson is a nonfictional 1920s entertainer interred in the Beverly Hills cemetery near the hospital. As a famous star who transitioned from silent films to talkies, his exuberant legacy contrasts with the quiet, clinical reality of the hospital setting, acting as a constant reminder of mortality.

A chimpanzee taught to use American Sign Language. She initially serves as a lighthearted conversation piece about an animal learning to lie, but her full history involves a profound struggle to communicate emotional pain, representing the limitations of language.