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David and Vicki meet
David and Vicki meet beneath the San Francisco headquarters of the newly founded "New West", where David was an assistant editor. Vicki was a dental assistant there and took his x-rays. -
Period: to
approximate order of events
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David and Vicki get married
David and Vicki marry one year after they meet. This hasty marriage leads to a divorce where Nic has to go through several weeks of custody battles and talk to a child therapist. -
Nic is born
Nic is born, this is the happiest day of his life since he married Vicki four years earlier. He says he is enraptured with his son, and willingly gives up sleep for him. (Sheff, 19) -
David and Vicki divorce
David and Vicki divorce, this traumatizes Nic. He flies from San Francisco to Los Angeles; "at first someone always flies with him, but at five he begins traveling on his own." (Sheff, 24) -
David marries Karen
'In May, Karen and I are married under roses and bougainvillea on the deck of her parent's house." (Sheff. 34) David has found happiness again, and is especially happy because Nic is okay with the transition. -
Japer is born; Daisy is born three years later
Jasper is born in December of 1993. David is starting to get concerned about the rise in the number of cases with people like Jeffrey Dahmer and the Polly Klaas murderer, who kidnapped her while she was still at home, and her mom was in the house. Jasper's eyes are swollen because of drops ithe doctors put n his eyes. David still surfs with Nic and his friends. (Sheff, 44-45). Daisy is born three years later. -
cigarettes and ganja
David picks up Nic and smells cigarette smoke, he tells him that he took some puffs with some guys behind the gymnasium. Nic gets lectured over this and promises never to do it again. David later finds a small bag of marijuana when he is packing David's overnight bag. -
suspension for marijuana
David and Karen are called up by the dean and told to talk with him about Nic's suspension from school for buyung marijuana. Savid and Karen are surprised because they he stopped after they confronted him in eigth grade. -
Nic steals
Just before Nic turns 18 he steals money food and a case of the best wine in the house and went to Death Valley with some friends. When Nic comes back he is mad at David because he is always trying to coontrol him, even though Nic horribly betrayed his trust and is still using drugs and drinking. -
David recalls Charles' accident
David recalls his experimentation with drugs at the University of Tucson. He remembers how Charles nearly died when he passed after hitting his head on the floor, an dh e had to be rushed to the hospital. David learns that Nic has set a new school record for number of absences by a senior. He talks to Nic about his rug use but Nic brushes him off and tells him that he worries too much. -
first bout of rehab
David finds Nic after he ran away, he drives him to a rehab center and realizes that he had been high the whole time he was in the car. Nic eventually agrees to go to rehab but later runs away. -
girl drug addict
When David goes out to look for David once again he finds a gril who came from a fairly good home. He buys her some food and she talks about her past, she thought of herself as a good girl before, someone that would never do drugs, but now she says that she does not hink she could go without it. David realizes that this is what Nic has turned into -
David's aneurysm
David suffers a brain aneurysm, he is rushed to the hospital and temporary loses most of his memory; the only thing he ccan rememnber to any great degree is that he needs to take care of his son. He keeps calling out his name and tells the nurses to call him. -
David is afraid of the phone
David confides in his therapist that he is afraid to pick up the phone and will sometimes let it ring for fear that it will bring bad news regarding Nic. The therapist tells hime to turn off the ringer sometimes. -
Sheff reads a book
David wants to wind down and immerse himself in someone elses story, so he buys the novel White Teeth by Zadie Smith. The first thing he opens up to is the epigraph from Where Angels Fear to Tread by E.M. Forster "Every little trifle, for some reason does seem incalculably important..." (Sheff, 302)
