story had this reporter made up? Jonathan had seen the murder. His dad had confessed to investigators. But aliens? What an idiotic story.
Jonathan never doubted that his dad had known exactly what he was doing that morning. That was why he had kept staring at him through the rearview mirror before he crashed. If his dad had made up a storyabout alien invasions to the cops, he was just trying to wiggle out of responsibility for his crime. An insanity plea or something.
That was what Jonathan told himself for all of his teenage years. He kept thinking it right up into his twenties, until the summer of 2008. For weeks, Caitlin had been expressing worries about Jonathan’s father and Josh’s mental stability. Jonathan brushed her comments off as exaggerated anxieties. Then the couple woke up in Jonathan’s bedroom one morning to a loud noise and found his brother wild-eyed in the kitchen.
C LASS D ISCUSSION: Homicide, Suicide, and Mental Illness
D ISCUSSION Q UESTION: Midterm
If you could forever eliminate one disease from the planet, which would you choose and why?
FIVE
Strange Behavior
Summer 2008
If perfection existed, Caitlin imagined it must look a lot like this moment. She glanced around the banquet hall, inhaling the whole scene, the shimmering crystal canopy chandelier that seemed as big as the sun, the Venetian plaster walls, the party revelers clinking their wineglasses and beer bottles. There were mirrors everywhere, even on the cathedral-style ceilings, as if carefully placed to remind everyone at every turn of how much fun they were having.
It was all for her, mostly. Jonathan had gone to the trouble of organizing and planning this elaborate joint celebration for Caitlin, and also for his buddy, since both had just graduated in Kean University’s 2008 class. He’d paid for the buffet, rented the hall, brought in a stand-up comedian, and invited all of their mutual friends, as well as Caitlin’s family and her favorite professor, Dr. Norma Bowe.
It had been a perfect morning for the graduation ten hours earlier too, with blue skies, warm sunshine, and the greenest trees. “All eyes are on the future!” shouted the keynote speaker, the guy who’d created Monster.com, to 2,100 graduates. Norma posed after the graduation ceremony for a couple of shots with Caitlin. There was the professor in one photo, with her burgundy lipstick smile, aviator sunglasses, and doctoral gown, topped off with a floppy velvety cap. She stood about five inches shorter than Caitlin, who wore a gold 2008 charm on the yellow tassel of her flat cap. A cluster of long ropey cords hung around Caitlin’s neck, representing all of the honors she’d received, like for her3.85 grade point average. Caitlin would later frame that photo and give it to Norma as a gift, which the professor would keep in her office.
Now that she’d earned her bachelor’s degree, Caitlin was on track to becoming one of only twelve students selected for the master’s program in the school of psychology at Kean. She’d still be able to attend her own therapy sessions with the counselor on campus while working to get control of her anxiety and OCD, and she could visit Norma, who had given her a part-time job as her research assistant, whenever she wanted.
By sunset, everyone including the professor had changed into cocktail party attire and headed to the Galloping Hills banquet hall in a gleaming white Colonial Revival–style building in Union, New Jersey. Caitlin slipped into a white strapless dress with black flowers embroidered along one side. It hugged her tiny waist, flowing out slightly at her hips, making them appear fuller than they actually were, stopping a few inches past her wispy thighs. She’d put on a pair of sparkling dangly earrings and pulled the sides of her blond hair up, letting a long chunk of it droop across her left cheek, while the rest fell down her back in loose ringlets.
Caitlin looked over at Jonathan as he mingled with
Jonathan never doubted that his dad had known exactly what he was doing that morning. That was why he had kept staring at him through the rearview mirror before he crashed. If his dad had made up a storyabout alien invasions to the cops, he was just trying to wiggle out of responsibility for his crime. An insanity plea or something.
That was what Jonathan told himself for all of his teenage years. He kept thinking it right up into his twenties, until the summer of 2008. For weeks, Caitlin had been expressing worries about Jonathan’s father and Josh’s mental stability. Jonathan brushed her comments off as exaggerated anxieties. Then the couple woke up in Jonathan’s bedroom one morning to a loud noise and found his brother wild-eyed in the kitchen.
C LASS D ISCUSSION: Homicide, Suicide, and Mental Illness
D ISCUSSION Q UESTION: Midterm
If you could forever eliminate one disease from the planet, which would you choose and why?
FIVE
Strange Behavior
Summer 2008
If perfection existed, Caitlin imagined it must look a lot like this moment. She glanced around the banquet hall, inhaling the whole scene, the shimmering crystal canopy chandelier that seemed as big as the sun, the Venetian plaster walls, the party revelers clinking their wineglasses and beer bottles. There were mirrors everywhere, even on the cathedral-style ceilings, as if carefully placed to remind everyone at every turn of how much fun they were having.
It was all for her, mostly. Jonathan had gone to the trouble of organizing and planning this elaborate joint celebration for Caitlin, and also for his buddy, since both had just graduated in Kean University’s 2008 class. He’d paid for the buffet, rented the hall, brought in a stand-up comedian, and invited all of their mutual friends, as well as Caitlin’s family and her favorite professor, Dr. Norma Bowe.
It had been a perfect morning for the graduation ten hours earlier too, with blue skies, warm sunshine, and the greenest trees. “All eyes are on the future!” shouted the keynote speaker, the guy who’d created Monster.com, to 2,100 graduates. Norma posed after the graduation ceremony for a couple of shots with Caitlin. There was the professor in one photo, with her burgundy lipstick smile, aviator sunglasses, and doctoral gown, topped off with a floppy velvety cap. She stood about five inches shorter than Caitlin, who wore a gold 2008 charm on the yellow tassel of her flat cap. A cluster of long ropey cords hung around Caitlin’s neck, representing all of the honors she’d received, like for her3.85 grade point average. Caitlin would later frame that photo and give it to Norma as a gift, which the professor would keep in her office.
Now that she’d earned her bachelor’s degree, Caitlin was on track to becoming one of only twelve students selected for the master’s program in the school of psychology at Kean. She’d still be able to attend her own therapy sessions with the counselor on campus while working to get control of her anxiety and OCD, and she could visit Norma, who had given her a part-time job as her research assistant, whenever she wanted.
By sunset, everyone including the professor had changed into cocktail party attire and headed to the Galloping Hills banquet hall in a gleaming white Colonial Revival–style building in Union, New Jersey. Caitlin slipped into a white strapless dress with black flowers embroidered along one side. It hugged her tiny waist, flowing out slightly at her hips, making them appear fuller than they actually were, stopping a few inches past her wispy thighs. She’d put on a pair of sparkling dangly earrings and pulled the sides of her blond hair up, letting a long chunk of it droop across her left cheek, while the rest fell down her back in loose ringlets.
Caitlin looked over at Jonathan as he mingled with
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