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Age 5
Nic and Karen are playing a word game and are laughing their heads off. This shows that Nic understands his parents’ divorce and is getting along with his step mom. Karen shows her care for Nic by trying to help get him to a hospital or rehab center so he can get help. If Karen did not care for Nic then she would not be doing this, but she does care for him. Even though Nic is Karen’s step son, I feel that Karen treats Nic as if he was her own son. -
Early in May
Nic gets in the car and smells like smoke. After a while he finally gives in and says that he had a couple puffs with boys who were smoking behind the gymnasium. David made him promise to never do it again (Sheff 47). This is significant because this is the first time that Nic has smoked. When David told Nic to promise to never do it again, he, like most teenagers, blew off his dad and said yes that he’ll never do it again to just make him stop talking. Since Nic tried smoking and found out tha -
The Next Friday after school
Nic and a friend, were tossing a football in the yard. David packs an overnight bag for Nic and looks for a sweater in his backpack. Instead of finding a sweater, David discovers a small bag of marijuana (Sheff 48). Nic is in a stage where everyone tries new things for fun. Even Nic’s teacher told David and Karen that pretty much every student either smokes and/or drinks alcohol. David is upset that Nic broke their promise and brought home a bag of marijuana. Personally, I feel that David shoul -
Age 12, Alcohol
David questions if Nic has tried alcohol and Nic said that Philip and him tried it on the Lake Tahoe ski trip. They tried everything that was in the cabinet when Nic’s parents were sleeping so they would not get caught. This is significant because already at age 12, Nic is getting involved in risky behavior and is trying new things. If Nic keeps drinking alcohol from age 12, he will develop a high tolerance for alcohol. He could consume a ton of alcohol before feeling drunk which is very deadl -
7th grade
Nic starts hanging out with a group of boys with buzzed hair who talk about, but do nothing about, girls, and listen to music: Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, Primus, and Jimi Hendrix ( Sheff 47). These boys influence Nic and persuade him to start doing drugs. This is the start of Nic’s whole problem with using drugs. I feel that if Nic had not started hanging out with this group of kids, he would have never been involved with drugs. -
8th grade
Nic spends less time with the skateboard group of kids. He spends his spare time surfing with his West Marin friends. This is significant because this shows that Nic is maturing. He is realizing that he had made a mistake and wants to fix it. By hanging out with new friends is a great start for Nic to cut out smoking and drinking in his lifestyle. Nic eventually gets into the private high school that he wanted to go to. This shows his determination and willing to cut out smoking to get an educ -
Age 13- Daisy is born
Marguerite, “Daisy”, is born. This is significant because now there is someone else is Nic’s family that he has to look out for. You would think that Nic would stop smoking since there is a baby in the house, but Nic still continues to smoke. Nic may continue to smoke because he is jealous of his brother and sister or that he wants more attention from his dad and Karen. The speaker in an AA meeting said, “An addict can take over the family- take all of a parent’s attention, even at the expense o -
An afternoon in May
Freshman dean calls Nic’s house and David picks up. David answers and it’s the freshman dean from Nic’s school. The freshman dean says that they need to schedule a conference ASAP to discuss Nic’s suspension for buying marijuana on campus (Sheff 74). This is significant because Nic was doing so good and all of a sudden he decides to make a bad decision by buying marijuana. Nic needs to realize that drugs are not essential in his life. If he needs to get in that state of being ‘high”, then he sho -
Summer before college
Nic is arrested for failure to appear in court after being cited for marijuana possession. Nic is not looking good and is continuing to make bad decisions. After the Paris trip, he came off the plane with shaggy hair and black circles under his eyes. This is significant because his parents are considering taking him to a rehab center to get help. Sooner or later, Nic will hit rock bottom and there may not be anything you could do to help him when he gets there because it could be too late to hel -
18
Nic checks into the Ohlhoff Recovery House in San Francisco. This is significant because Nic is doing the right thing, even though he moans and groans, and says that going to a rehab center is a waste of time and that he does not need to go to one. David one day calls the hospital to check in on Nic and they say that he ran away. I feel that Nic ran away because he was most likely uncomfortable at the hospital and felt scared being there. It is also harder that Nic does not except the fact that -
In program at St. Helena
In the program at St. Helena, the patients are required to keep journals with them and Nic shares his own entry. “How the hell did I get here? It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was on the goddam water-polo team. I was an editor of the school newspaper, acting in the spring play. Obsessing about which girls I liked, talking Marx and Dostoyevsky with my classmates. The kids in my class are in college. This isn’t so much sad as baffling. At the time it all seemed so positive and harmless” (Sheff -
One day after school
One day after school- Jasper comes home from school and checks his satin box where he contains his savings of 8 dollars and finds that it is all gone. This is significant because the drugs are making Nic do things that he would not normally do when he is not drugged up. Stealing money from a store is one thing, but stealing money from a family member is another thing. If Nic needed money so badly, he could have just asked his parents for money and they would have kindly given it to him. If he ne -
At Karen's parents' canyon side house
While doing the laundry, Nancy finds a body under a pile of woolen blankets. She carefully looks at the body and realizes that it is Nic. Nancy freaks out that Nic is there because he sacred her and she was not expecting anyone to be there when she got back from gardening. This is significant because Nic was using drugs and woke up in someone else’s house. It’s good that he woke up in Nancy’s house because if he woke up in someone else’s house, he could have been arrested. Nic really needs to st -
Nic checks into Hazelden to try to recover from his problem
“Hazelden is probably the nation’s best- known drug and alcohol rehabilitation center. Its main location is in Minnesota, but there are programs in New York, Oregon, and Chicago” (Sheff 204). Nic tells his father that he has finally hit rock bottom and that he needs to go to a rehab center to get help. This is significant because Nic is finally willing to go to a rehab center. It is really great that he realizes that he is in trouble and needs help. David is very happy that Nic has made this dec -
27 months off meth, Nic disappears
Nic has disappeared for over 2 days now. Vikki and David call all of Nic’s friends and coworkers and they have no idea where he is. Vikki goes to the police station and files a missing person report. “He is: Male. Caucasian. Twenty-one. He has tear-drop-shaped green-brown eyes and sun-bronzed olive skin. He has an easy smile. He is just over six feet tall, thin with the muscular upper arms and chest of a swimmer and the strong thighs and calves of a cyclist. When not in bike shorts and shirt, th -
Karen comes home one day and notices soemthing different about her house
Karen tells David to come look in the living room, and they see that it looks like someone broke in there house. Karen immediately wants to blame Nic, but David looks around the house more to finally realize that it was Nic who broke into their house. Nic had also broke into other people’s homes. This is significant because even though David hates it, he is done with Nic. David calls the police to report the burglary. When David finally gets a hold of Nic, Nic tells him that he has been doing me -
Jasper picks up the mail with David at Point Reyes Station ans finds a letter from Nic
Jasper reads the letter and Nic says that he is sorry, but saying sorry isn’t enough. Nic says that he is here for Jasper if he wants to talk about anything or needs help with something and says that now he can make that promise which he could not do years ago. Nic finally says that he is sorry one last time and returns the stolen eight dollars to Jasper (Sheff 233). This is significant because Nic is apologizing to jasper for the stolen money. If Nic was still doing drugs, he would have not sa -
David isn’t feeling so good and has Karen call 911
They rush David into an ICU to discover he has something wrong with his brain. David is still worried about Nic even though he should be worrying more about himself. Nic talks to him and tells him that he is here for him and that they will get through this. I find this ironic because throughout the whole book, David is always looking after Nic and making sure that he is ok. For once, Nic is looking after David and making sure that he is ok. David can finally get that feeling that Nic is off drug
