Beautiful Boy

Nic is born on July 20, 1982, to David and his wife Vicki, who live in Berkeley, California. They are “enraptured” by Nic, seeking out the best for him. As a child, Nic loves music and building structures out of Legos. He is thoughtful and curious, enjoying puppet shows, board games, and sing-a-longs.

When Nic is three years old, however, Vicki and David start to feel their marriage dissolving, despite their shared devotion to him. David falls in love with a family friend, and when they visit a couple’s therapist, he insists that his marriage is already over. Nic is hit hard by the divorce, and Vicki and David agree to joint custody, shuttling him back and forth between two homes.

Vicki then moves to Los Angeles and remarries, and she and David arrange a formal custody agreement. They decide to ask Nic’s therapist, whom he has been seeing since the divorce began, to figure out the best arrangement for Nic. The therapist launches a “three-month investigation,” interviewing family, friends, and Nic. She explains what she has learned: while Nic is an “exceptional child,” he is suffering from the divorce, and the therapist’s goal is to minimize that stress. She determines that Nic will spend the school year with David, and Vicki will have Nic for summers and holidays. David and Vicki agree to the arrangement. 

It is tough for Vicki and David to lose their son half of the time, but it is harder for Nic. At five years old, he starts flying alone between San Francisco and Los Angeles. When he and David say goodbye, they say “everything”—their way of saying I love you, I miss you, and I’m sorry in one word. On the plane, Nic orders Coca-Cola (forbidden at home), because the flights are the only times he does not have a parent watching over him.

At five, Nic begins kindergarten in San Francisco and begins to display his creativity, confidence, and individuality. He gains an eclectic group of friends and develops a deep interest in movies. He also gets in trouble occasionally, prank-calling local restaurants and bars, but mostly he behaves well. Report cards note that he is creative, compassionate, funny, and “a leader in class.”

David keeps a box of Nic’s artwork and writings. One writing assignment asks if a person should always try their best. A young Nic writes, “I don’t think you should always try your best all the time, […] because, let’s say a drug atick [sic] asks you for drugs you should not try your best to find him some drugs.”

Sometimes, teachers report that Nic seems a little depressed, and David explains that Nic is sometimes afraid—perhaps because of his parents’ constant watchfulness or the “faces of missing children on milk cartons.” Nic and his friends won’t play outside unless David is there. Before Nic goes to sleep, he asks David to check on him every 15 minutes. David sings to Nic to soothe him, a song about a father making a monster go away.