could I be so hooked?
 
 7) Going to school (before
 
 my “condition” became
 
 obvious) an outsider.
 
 Knowing my old
 
 friends and I had lost
 
 all common ground.
 
 6) Boredom. The succession
 
 of little-to-do
 
 days, stretching
 
 longer and longer
 
 toward the longest
 
 day of the year.
 
 5) Long letters from Chase.
 
 USC was great.
 
 The football team
 
 was great. Los
 
 Angeles was great.
 
 Great enough
 
 to call it home.
 
 4) My dad’s silence. He did call
 
 once, to confirm Linda
 
 Sue’s tale. Then not
 
 a word, as if not talking
 
 about it could make
 
 the “problem” disappear.
 
 3) Losing Grandma, just when
 
 I’d found her again.
 
 A waterfall of flowers
 
 brightened her funeral,