Beautiful Boy

With Nic gone, David once again calls hospital rooms and jails. He is bombarded by more advice, including to kick Nic out. Nic is gone for six days, and David is frantic, spending hours on the internet reading about the effects of drugs on teenagers. He holds it together in front of Jasper and Daisy, but privately he breaks down, weeping uncontrollably in a way that he never has before. Davis is terrified at how lost, helpless, and out of control he feels.

David calls Vicki, who shares David’s worry. Karen and David go back and forth, each trying to console the other, assuring the other that Nic will come back. A week later, Nic returns to the house—“frail, ill, and rambling—a barely recognizable phantom.” David once again implores Nic to go to rehab, but Nic simply collapses on his bed and falls asleep.

While Nic sleeps, David searches for a rehab facility. They variously claim 25 to 85 percent success rate for getting sober, but a nurse admits to David that the real number is in the single digits. The more David learns about the rehab industry, the more he recognizes its disorganization. Most are rooted in the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous. Other than that, they are inconsistent and often based solely on the philosophies of a program’s director, some of whom have few qualifications. Even rehab programs run by doctors and clinicians aren’t much more effective.

David chooses a highly recommended place in Oakland named Thunder Road. On the day of Nic’s appointment, David tells Nic that they are going to rehab. Nic once again refuses, saying that David can’t make him go. David gives Nic an ultimatum: if he wants to live in David’s house and have David pay for college, and if Nic wants to see the family, he must go. David asks Nic if he wants to die. Nic pounds his fist against the table and kicks the wall, sobbing—but then he follows David to the car.