Summary

Perry was lying in the bottom bunk, desperate to get high. He feared raising his bunkmate Larry's suspicions by getting up or making noise. Ever since he started using cocaine, Perry became convinced "that he, Perry, was God" (481). He began regarding everything and everyone around him as beneath him. If he were indeed God, Perry decided, then his mind "truly [had] limitless capacities" (481).

The night Perry had gone to his handler, he had discovered new drugs, and the way they empowered him. He realized that it was not his mind that was "the problem," but "his body, its exhaustible muscles" (483). If he could alter his somatic rhythms, he could solve his issues. The drugs soon became an obsession and an addiction. He had used nearly all of his money, and even stolen Clem's money, in order to secure more. Becky had given...