Summary

On a Tuesday in November, 2004, in the apartment that he shares with fiancé Beth and younger brother Barrett, Tyler wakes to the sight of falling snow. He initially thinks he's dreaming, but then realizes that snow is, in fact, entering the apartment through a window that was inadvertently left open. Tyler gets up to close the window, and though he briefly considers returning to bed, he decides to snort coke instead, despite having previously resolved to "cut down" on his drug use. Tyler describes the cumulative wear of both caring for a dying fiancé (Beth is terminally ill) and living with a downtrodden younger brother who seems at an impasse in his life. He describes his cocaine use as "only a boost, at a time when a boost is needed."

Tyler stands at his open window and has an urge to step out onto...