A Million Little Pieces Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary

How It All Goes Down

  • James's parents and his brother drive James to a clinic in Minnesota.
  • When they get into the waiting room, they huddle together, but taking their cue from mid-90s No Doubt songs, they "don't speak" (1.2.10).
  • A man shows up to check James in. He lets James know that this is the "oldest Residential Drug and Alcohol Treatment Facility in the World" (1.2.42). What, no cute acronym? ORDATFW doesn't roll off the tongue, we guess.
  • The man tells James that patients stay as long as they need.
  • James is led to a white room, where a Nurse can examine him.
  • James tells the Nurse that he's been on "cocaine […] crack […] pills, acid, mushrooms, meth, PCP, and glue" (1.2.79, 1.2.87, 1.290). Is it Elmer's or super?
  • The nurse tells James that they'll probably have to give him some detox drugs. She puts a blanket over him and leaves.
  • James falls asleep and has some gnarly withdrawal dreams: bugs, shadows, bright lights.
  • James wakes up screaming, peeing, and pooping.
  • The nurse races in with some men in white (Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones were on vacation), who inject him with a needle.
  • James blacks out again.