Most good stories start with a fundamental list of ingredients: the initial situation, conflict, complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion. Great writers sometimes shake up the recipe and add some spice.
Exposition (Initial Situation): Meet Bob
Bob Slocum lets us into his world. He reveals his fears and anxieties, and once that's over and done with, he tells us he lives in a typical suburban home with three kids and a wife. Outside of his home, he invites us to learn more about the place where he works by describing who's afraid of whom in the office. And once we get that over with, we learn that dude has a steady job he's relatively happy with—only both at home and in the office, things aren't what they appear to be. And what a juicy set-up this makes for.
Rising Action (Conflict, Complication): Now Hiring
In an office where everybody is afraid of everyone else, everyone knows when someone has a meeting with head honcho Arthur Baron. The office is abuzz when word gets out that Slocum has a meeting with the boss, and everyone, especially Andy Kagle and Jack Green, want to know what's up. Complications ensue when Slocum learns that Baron wants to give him Kagle's job. And to complicate matters even more, our complacent Slocum finds that he kind of wants the job. Okay, he really wants it.
Climax (Crisis, Turning Point): Death by Asphyxiation
The climax of our story actually occurs in the final pages of the book, but boy, is it a climax worth waiting for. We learn that the thing that happens to Slocum is the sudden and tragic death of his beloved son. True, the boy's severely injured in a freak car accident, but the cause of his death is as asphyxiation—due to Slocum's attempt to end the boy's suffering. This climactic action has a huge effect on Slocum and his family, but not in the negative ways we would think.
Falling Action: Next to Normal
Life returns to normal for the Slocums, and in fact it's so normal, it may even be better than it was before. Slocum assumes Kagle's position with ease, Mrs. Slocum stops drinking, and their daughter announces she wants to attend college. Slocum reveals he occasionally misses his son, but he's distracted by his new position and the speech he'll finally be able to deliver at the company convention. Missing his son seems merely a part of his new routine.
Resolution (Denouement): Hindsight is 20/20
What makes Something Happened a bit tricky is that the final resolve can only be understood backwards. It isn't until after the death of Slocum's son that we finally realize exactly what it is that Slocum was waiting for to happen. All those events he listed along the way, from Virginia to his mother to his son's fear of his gym teacher, merely served as events from his past. But it was one singular event, the death of his son, which truly made him the person he's become.