California Diaries #5: Ducky
Christopher McCrae aka Ducky is really going through it. He’s a sixteen-year-old junior at Vista whose parents are currently in Ghana, so he’s in the custody of his schlubby and not-around-much twenty-year-old brother Ted. (Haaaave you met Ted? … No. He’s literally never around.) His former best friends, Jason and Alex, are no longer his best friends. Jason (who now goes by Jay) has fallen in with some meatheads who Ducky calls the Cro Mags. He seems to agree with the Cro Mag consensus that Ducky is a weird sissy. Meanwhile, Alex is depressed and despondent and basically ignores everyone and everything. I guess this helps explain why Ducky is spending so much time hanging out with Sunny, Dawn, Maggie, and Amalia, who are all thirteen.
Ducky spends the book getting mad at Jay and Alex off and on. Jay keeps trying to set Ducky up with girls, but Ducky is never interested plus Jay keeps springing these “dates” on him without warning. Then, Jay will come through with some kindness like convincing the Cro Mags that Ducky’s actually cool and helping Ducky clean up his trash heap of a post-party house (thanks for nothing, Ted). Alex will slowly open up to Ducky and then all of a sudden clam up again or get angry and bothered.
Through all this, Ducky is trying to be there for Sunny, who is flamboyant in her misery, and tries not to resent her — after all, at least her mother is around, even if she’s sick. Sunny doesn’t looove that perspective, though.
Everything comes to a head for Ducky at a big party that Jay throws at his house while his parents are away. Most people are drinking and smoking, and Ducky is stressed out and running around making sure that none of Jay’s mom’s valuable china and collectibles get broken or ruined. (SO RELATABLE. That would be me. Nervous mom energy.) Jay gets pissed at Ducky for turning down the music to a reasonable volume. Then, Alex gets completely wasted on gin and goes to the upstairs bathroom, locks the door, turns on the shower with the drain plug pulled, overflows the water and almost drowns. Yikes!
Jay and Ducky manage to break down the bathroom door and drag Alex out. Ducky gets Alex into his Jeep and takes him to his house, where Alex pukes in the bushes and is also crying and apologetic to Ducky about getting his car wet. But then Ducky realizes that Alex seems sorry about more than that… and that maybe Alex is depressed enough that when he drank alcohol (a depressant) he actually was trying to do more than just shower in the shower. He’s freaked out and concerned for Alex, so while he thinks Alex is sleeping he calls Alex’s therapist to fill him in. Alex overhears, though, and feels super betrayed. He tells Ducky their friendship is over.
Ducky is devastated. Everything is not… ducky.
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