Thursday

Outside Reading Week 5 Part #2

During this section of the book, the police officer who Cup refers to as "Preacher", pulled her over because she had failed to yield the right-of-way. But deep down Cup knew the real reason why, he had spotted her leaving dope street. When Preacher was walking towards Cup's car she was nervous that he would give her some sort of ticket, but instead he gave her advice. He told her that he knows God has a plan for her and she is special, but before she turns her life around she will hit rock bottom. After that incident, Cup talked to him three other times during that year. He continued to keep her out of trouble with her dope issues. At Cup's work, her boss Ken would be taking work off to help take care of his newborn daughter. So Cup decided she would be sneaky and also take off work. But the new secretary thought this violated Cup's provision, fortunately Ken who was on cloud 9 after his baby girl was born told Dorothy to forget about it and Cup was fine. As the book continues, Cup and Tommy's drug use gets worse and worse. The side effects of the drugs was causing Tommy to have problems with his bowels and Cup to loose control of her facial muscles and not being able to close her lips. But Cup eventually becomes immune to the drugs and could not even get high anymore. She wanted to stop because they had effected her body and her life. Daddy and Jr. were concerned about Tommy and Cup's drug problem and decided they needed to take action. They both admitted to their drug problem and wanted the help. The first step to recovery for Cup was a 12-step program for coke addicts. She and Daddy had gone to a meeting together where they showed them characteristics of coke addicts. After the meeting, Cup was convinced she was not an addict even though she could relate to most of the topics of discussion. Tommy's attempt was even worse, he didn't use for one day but then used dope the next night. Daddy was given $500 out of sympathy from his co-workers after the death of his father. He left for Tennessee for the funeral, and before he even boarded the plane Cup and Tommy spent every cent on drugs. Cup had stolen money from someone she loved for the first time. When Daddy returned, Cup had to inform him that she stole his money. Daddy was heartbroken, he lost their trust and he could no longer watch Cup and Tommy kill themselves. Once Daddy was gone, Cup and Tommy felt as though they had no reason to be responsible. So they used all of their money on drugs and had none left for their rent payments. With no money, they were forced to leave the apartment and had to live in a car. But after 2 days in the car, they found a new apartment and Cup left Tommy. She left Tommy for all the wrong reasons, she thought he was just getting in the way and she figured she could get more high on her own. Tommy threatened Cup and said if she left him Cup would leave with nothing and he would get everything, including the car. Cup could care less so she walked to Mona and James's house. They agreed to let Cup live with them under 3 conditions: they would control her drinking limits; no crack in the house and she had to keep a job and pay rent. At Cup's work, Ken was realizing all of the mistakes she was making. Cup knew she had to step it up in order to keep her job. She tried to get more energy and work harder, But eventually she gave up. With all her drug use she developed depression and became suicidal. She was still figuring out her plan, so she would go to her "dope spot" and smoke until she figured out how to kill herself. She met her dealer there and he had left the rocks on the table and stepped aside for a moment. So, Cup took two rocks and slipped them in her shoe. He then threatened to kill her and he induced him to shoot her. She woke up four days later, in a dumpster, filthy and smelling horrible. Cup was unable to recall anything that had happened the night before. Cup was in a great amount of pain so she called Ken to take some time off work. In order for that to happen, Cup lied and told him she had Colon cancer. Cupcake would spend most of her time thinking of schemes on how to kill herself. Cup was still up to no good and Mona caught her with her pipe for the third time and kicked her out of the house. Cup had no where to stay so she decided to go to the dumpster where she had woken up that one time. Looking at her reflection, Cup decided right there she needed help. She talked to God and a voice told her to go into work at Ken's office and tell him she was quiting because of a drug problem. With that she walked sixty blocks to her boss's office to confess she had a problem and she would be quitting to receive help. Ken being the man he is, called several hospitals and facilities to do what he could. She eventually got into the Mesa Vista Rehabilitation Center. As Ken was driving Cup to the hospital, Cup kept changing her mind on whether or not to get help. She was also experiencing withdrawal symptoms. When they arrived to the hospital, a lady named Sam asked her numerous questions to figure out what part of the hospital would fit her best. One of Cup's first assignments in rehab was to write good-bye letters to her drugs. Also, she began to attend 12-step meetings at Mesa Vista. Cup attended all of the meetings and she also got a sponsor. With all of her hard work and dedication, Cup was released.

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