Of course, this being the top story of the day in rehab world, everyone is scrambling for details. Wanda was in the nurses’ station when Julie brought Alex in. She said he looked frightening, nose bleeding and everything, gripping Julie’s arm with his head down like someone on trial getting past the press. We all pumped Wanda for more, since she’s the only one of us who saw him, but that’s all she had.

This just in!

Carl overheard Julie telling Stan that when she got to Alex’s room it was about 11 A.M. Alex let her in and embraced her like a long-lost relative. He was sweating and crying, totally panicked. “I’m so glad you’re here, thank you for coming,” he kept repeating. While he was talking, a huge rock of cocaine fell out of his nose and landed on the carpet. Without missing a beat Alex bent down, licked his finger, picked up the coke rock, and put it in his mouth. He then offered Julie a Long Island iced tea and asked her if she had to tell his parents about this.

If World War III broke out now we’d still talk about Alex.

. . . Christ, I feel dead . . .

DAY TWENTY-SEVEN

They brought in three people to speak at the hospital tonight at our own AA meeting. The first guy told us he was known as the Blackout King. He used to come out of blackouts speeding down the freeway and not know if he was chasing someone or being chased. He once came to in the middle of a huge fight and didn’t know whose side he was on. He said that in the end he could only get high by tying himself off and calling the paramedics and telling them there was an overdose at his address. Then he would hang up and wait until he heard the ambulance siren, and then he’d shoot up, knowing they would save his life. So almost dying became the biggest high of all.

The second guy told this long tale of cocaine dealing and prison. At one point he was talking about being at this party in San Francisco. There was this girl there and he said, “I wanted to go out with her and she didn’t have the time of day for me. Then she went off to New York and became this big star, and today that girl is in this room. Now we’re in the same club.”