“In the Cemetery Where Al Johnson is Buried” by Amy Hempel is definitely a story about fear. Of course, the overall theme is a fear of death, but then there is an underlying theme of the fear of running out of time to do something important.
An important piece of this story that you shouldn’t miss is that our main character is deeply in love with her dying best friend. It’s painfully obvious in the scene where the dying girl introduces our narrator as The Best Friend. The narrator describes it as “more intimate” and that “they [the nurse and her friend] are intimate,” implying that they could be more than nurse and patient. It’s also obvious when the Good Doctor is in the room and our narrator leaves. She also flat out says there was a kiss between them. The tone of the sentences, the shortness of them — everything gives away our main girl’s feelings, but she loves her friend too much to try and tie her down to something towards the end of her life. She wants her friend to have fun even if it drives her insane.
When she’s talking about her flying class, saying she’s afraid she’ll “finish the course and still be afraid,” she is not talking just about the flying course. She lost her chance with her best friend; she was the one afraid to confess. Her friend obviously knew she was in love with her but didn’t do anything because she didn’t want to push her Best Friend and risk her running away even though she still did in the end. Our narrator was hurting too much and too afraid to stay with her, so now she’s trying to make up for it by facing her other fears. Even if it hurts, even if it doesn’t work out in the end, she doesn’t want to waste another chance for anything. She lost her best friend, her love, and now she’s trying not to lose herself.