The Popular Depression is a book I wrote in my first year of college.

It was inspired by a cigarette pack on a coffee table that I noticed at a house party.

My eyes were drawn to the Health Canada warning on the box of cigarettes.

I think the statistic about tobacco-related deaths was supposed to be the scary one. But, for some reason, I was more alarmed by the fact more people died by killing themselves than by getting into car accidents.

I never did anything with the book I wrote. Looking back, some of the amateurish writing makes me cringe. But, the concept behind The Popular Depression is an important theme for us to think about.

Here is the seventeenth chapter from The Popular Depression.

Chapter 17

The scene is familiar.
The back of Jared’s truck: Jared driving, TJ riding shotgun. A new weekend; a new party. Some rap song with a lot of bass thrusting through the speakers. Ethan wonders if this is what all of his weekends will consist of from now on.
As Jared steers his truck down Scenic Drive, Ethan is curious about whether or not his mom really believed him. He used the same excuse, telling her that he was crashing at Jared’s place. Diane seemed slightly hesitant in allowing him to leave, but finally agreed, as long as Ethan was home in time to go to church in the morning. Ethan knew that getting home by 10:30 a.m. may come as a problem; however, he accepted his mom's offer.
“So where is this party at, Winston?” TJ asks. “And who’s going? I was talking to some of the cheerleader girls and most of them said they didn’t even hear about this party.”
“Somewhere on the Northside. I got the address from this kid in my English class. All he said was that it’s supposed to be huge.”
“Better not be a sausage-fest,” TJ replies.
Jared chooses not to respond to TJ’s comment; rather, continues driving (now on Mayor Magrath Drive) toward North Lethbridge.
Ethan scans the backseat and notices that Jared already brought the 24-pack of beer that they agreed on sharing. Sitting next to the beer in a brown paper bag is a bottle of spiced rum.
Jared pulls up to the house. The appearance is the opposite of Skyler Johnson's house. The three friends get out of the Titan. Loud music, coming from low-quality speakers, can be heard outside of the small two-level house. There is no light coming from the basement windows. The white paint on the exterior walls is peeling off. A sign on a small fence surrounding the house says, “No trespassers.”
“Uhh, are you sure this is the place, dude?” TJ asks.
“Just relax,” Jared replies. “Not every party we go to is going to be at a mansion.”
“But that doesn’t mean that we have to go to sketchy ass parties in the ghetto of Lethbridge,” TJ says.
Jared ignores him and opens the front door. TJ and Ethan follow Jared into the house and stand near the entrance. Blueberry Yum Yum by Ludacris tries to make its way out of two speakers that have probably been blown for over a year. There are two worn out green couches in the room by the door. The couches are occupied several guys who appear to be strung out. Judging by the lack of beer bottles lurking around, Ethan guesses that alcohol isn’t the drug of choice for these kids. Ethan looks toward the tiny kitchen that is connected to the living room. Each appliance is a different colour. Ethan notices there is no dishwasher. Down a short hallway, there are two bedrooms. Both doors to the rooms are open and Ethan sees/hears no one in that direction. He does a quick head count of the whole area. Out of the 15 people in attendance, Ethan notices only two girls.
After being stared at by everyone in the room, Jared walks over to the couch and greets one of the burnt out kids with a handshake.
Ethan wonders if this is the only person that Jared knows in the entire room. Ethan then looks at the clock: 10:04. He wishes his curfew was 10:30 p.m.
“Ethan,” TJ says tapping him on the shoulder. “This party is bunk… I don’t know what Jared was thinking. We should get out of here.”
Ethan takes another look around.
“Yah, I agree,” Ethan says.
After a brief conversation with the kid on the couch Jared walks back toward his two teammates.
“So boys, are we going to crack open some booze and start getting drunk?”
Ethan and TJ stand silently, both stunned at Jared’s eagerness to drink in the current environment.
“Jared, how can you actually want to party with these losers?” TJ asks quietly enough so that no one can hear.
“It’s not that bad TJ. Plus, I talked to a bunch of people and this is the only party going on tonight,” Jared responds. “I don’t know about you, but I’d rather get drunk here than go home and play video games.”
“Speak for yourself man; I’m getting out of here,” TJ insists, pulling out his cell phone and dialling a number.
“Hey, Rob,” TJ says into the phone. “Can you come pick me up? I’m at this lame party on the Northside… I don’t have a ride.”
Ethan stands there silently, debating whether or not to open a beer.
“You’re not going to go with him are you?” Jared asks Ethan, quietly enough so that TJ can’t hear. “TJ is being so lame tonight. I don’t know why he doesn’t want to have a good time. Don’t pussy out like him… stay here and party with me.”
Ethan debates what to do.
“Just one sec, Rob,” TJ says on the phone.
TJ turns to Ethan and asks, “Are you coming with?”
Ethan looks at TJ. Then down. Then back up at Jared. Five seconds later he looks back at TJ.
“Nah, man, I’m going to stick around here and give this place a chance.”
TJ looks surprised.
“Alright, man. If you’re sure?”
Ethan thinks over his decision.
“Yah, I’m sure,” Ethan replies, unsure.
Then turning to Jared, he informs, “Wherever we end up crashing… you need to give me a ride home in the morning.”
“Not a problem, brother,” Jared says putting his arm around Ethan.
Once TJ’s ride arrives, he leaves the party, and Jared introduces Ethan to the only person that he knows. That person (whose name Ethan never did catch) introduces Jared and Ethan to a few more people whose names Ethan also fails to memorize. Jared and Ethan take a spot on one of the ugly couches. Ethan drinks his beer faster than usual, hoping that he will have more fun in a drunken state. Ethan notices that Jared is nursing his beer, but he doesn’t think anything of it. The night is kind of a blur, and doesn’t flow by particularly fast. Ethan sees the two girls being hit on by a pack of five guys. Half-Baked is playing on the TV in the living room. By the fuzzy picture, Ethan assumes that it is the video cassette version, not DVD. After beer number seven, Ethan feels officially drunk. Ethan looks around and tries to determine all the different drugs that are going around. He notices a lot of people smoking weed. Ethan hasn’t smoked weed for over a year. The stuff really didn’t do a lot for him. He continues scanning. A couple of people claim to be hallucinating in the corner of the kitchen. Ethan thinks he hears one of them mention mushrooms. Ethan notices the girls. He wouldn’t have said this an hour ago, but he’s beginning to think that the brown-haired one is kind of cute. He stares at her until she looks his way and a brief moment of eye-contact is established. Ethan seems satisfied with himself. The guys who surround the girls look like a bunch of losers, yet the girls are being very touchy. Ethan continues to watch them and then decides that they must be on ecstasy. Two guys sitting to the right of Ethan are preparing to snort a couple lines of cocaine on the coffee table. Each of them sniffs one. Ethan wonders what it would feel like to do cocaine. He sees Jared pull something out of his pocket. The plastic baggie containing a white substance looks identical to the stuff the guys to his right are sniffing. Ethan knew Jared was a hardcore partier, but he didn’t think he did cocaine. Jared taps Ethan and whispers something about living large. Ethan checks his watch: 11:20. Ethan watches Jared pull out a small razor. He then separates the pile of cocaine into four equal lines on the coffee table. He thinks he hears Jared tell him that two are for him. He wonders why Jared is so confident that he will do it. He tries to make a facial expression that shows Jared that he is not interested. Jared tells Ethan that there’s nothing to worry about. Ethan tries to put up a legitimate debate but slurs his words. Jared is not slurring at all. Ethan looks at Jared’s empty beer bottle and wonders how long it’s been sitting there empty. He quickly tries to calculate in his head how many beers Jared has consumed. It’s pointless, he has no clue. All that Ethan knows is that he is drunk, and Jared is not. Jared keeps telling Ethan that he’s got to stop being a pussy. Ethan tries to remember what the side effects of cocaine are. He can’t remember. Jared mocks Ethan about being sheltered. Ethan finally tells Jared that he’ll do it, mostly because he wants Jared to shut-up. Ethan has successfully made eye-contact with the brown-haired girl numerous times and he doesn’t want her to hear Jared calling him a pussy. Jared reaches into the pocket of his coat and retrieves a thin, shortened straw. He hands it to Ethan then instructs him to take the first hit. Ethan glances over and watches one of the guys sitting beside him snort his last line of coke. He notices that they are sniffing their lines with a hollowed out pen. Ethan copies their method, and snorts the first line. Instantly he feels a burning sensation in his nose. He sniffs and wipes his nose rapidly. He hears Jared laugh and say, “Thatta boy.” Ethan drinks what is left of beer number seven. He decides that he will grab number eight after he takes his next line. Ethan leans down and sniffs the second line of cocaine. His nose itches and stings. He turns to Jared who’s sitting on the couch adjacent to him, watching intently. Jared has his hands in the pockets of his designer jeans. Ethan tells Jared, “It’s your turn dude.” Jared leans forward, but just before he removes his hands from his pockets, his phone goes off. Jared pulls his phone out of his pocket. He checks the front to see who is calling. After determining something, he turns to Ethan and says, “It’s my mom; just a second.” Jared looks at the last two lines on the coffee table. Then, as if to be doing Ethan a huge favour, he says, “You know what dude… you can have those last two lines… my treat. I’ll do four lines when I get back.” Ethan gives a thumbs-up and watches as his teammate shuffles past him, flips his phone open, then walks outside as he says, “Hey mom, what is it?” Without hesitation Ethan leans down and finishes the last two lines. The last line burns the worst, but Ethan tries not to make a big deal of it in case the brown-haired girl is watching. After doing the line, Ethan leans back on the couch. He wonders when it will kick in. He wonders if he will even feel it because he is drunk. He feels alert. He wonders where brown-haired girl’s friend went. He checks his watch: 11:46. He wonders where TJ went. He wonders if TJ and Rachel are still sleeping together. He wonders if TJ just ditched Jared and him to go and sleep with Rachel. He wonders why everyone thought that he was most likely to hook up with Taya if he wasn’t with Rachel. He wonders where Jared is. He thinks of Liberty and wonders if she heard anything about his relationship with Rachel. He feels guilty. He wonders if he will ever talk to Liberty again. He wonders if she will date another guy, and if so, if that guy will look like him. He , once again, wonders where Jared went. He wonders if he’s feeling it yet. He wonders if the brown-haired girl thinks he’s cute, or if she just thinks he’s creepy for starring at her all night. He wonders if she knows he plays basketball. He looks at the TV. He wonders how long ago Half-Baked ended. He wonders what is taking Jared so long. He remembers he wanted to get another beer. He remembers the fish-tank at Skyler’s house. He wonders if cocaine and beer should mix. He hears a song by ABBA and laughs to himself about the music selection at this party. He decides to get another beer. He tells the guys sitting beside him to save his spot. He also tells them to save the spot on the couch adjacent to them because his friend is sitting there. The guys question what adjacent means. He tries to explain but stops halfway through and walks to the kitchen to get his beer. While searching in the fridge he notices that his and Jared’s 24-pack has 16 beer remaining. He counts on his fingers and tries to figure out how many beers Jared has had. He forgets why he is counting on his fingers.
“We’ve got to go dude,” Jared says, an extremely worried look across his face.
“What’s wrong man?” Ethan asks, slightly panicked.
“I’ll explain in the car, just come right now,” Jared says grabbing Ethan, pulling him toward the exit.
The two run toward Jared’s vehicle, get in, and in record time Jared starts the ignition and drives away.
Once Jared reaches a desirable speed (30 over the limit), he begins to explain.
“It’s Gordon, my step-dad,” Jared begins. “He got into a car accident tonight. My mom said he got T-boned by a drunk driver. He survived the accident, but my mom said that the injuries are pretty severe. I have to drop you off then get to the hospital.”
This statement sobers Ethan up for a moment; however, his heart is pounding too fast.
“Wow man… I’m so sorry,” Ethan consoles.
Jared makes it to Ethan’s house in nearly half the time that it should’ve taken.
“Sorry that the night had to end this way, man,” Jared says. “But at least you’re home at a decent hour.”
Ethan nods. Then he stares at Jared. He wants to ask him how long he’s been doing cocaine. He wants to tell him that he doesn’t want to get hooked. He wants to know why Jared didn’t drink much tonight, when the plan was to get hammered at the party. He decides that now isn't the time to ask.
“Good luck at the hospital man; give Gordon my best,” Ethan says… talking fast but trying to sound as normal as possible.
“I will. Later, man.”
With that, Jared speeds off in the direction of the Lethbridge Hospital.
Ethan stands outside his house, heart-pounding, paranoid that his mom might catch him. He tries to come up with some sort of excuse but he can’t think straight. Everything about the night was sketchy. Ethan sits on the curb and thinks to himself.
He comes to the realization that he did cocaine tonight.
Worse than that, he felt amazing while doing it. For possibly the first time since he was with Liberty, he felt carefree. He finally was able to escape.
Ethan takes a quick scan around the house. Once he verifies that all of the lights are off, he walks to the front door. He slowly unlocks the bolt, creeks the door open, closes the door quietly behind him, tiptoes down the hallway in the darkness, silently pushes his bedroom door open, goes into his room, shuts the door behind him, and prepares for a night of insomnia.

Previous Chapters:

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16