28 INCENTIVE
Dan returned to his room feeling woozy, probably aftereffects of the sedative and stimulant. He stepped around piles of dirty clothes, scattered books, and empty soda cans, and flopped on the bed, planning to rest. The torrid novel a friend gave him warded off sleep, so he was awake when the phone rang.
“Hey. Howya doing?” Megan said.
“I’m awesome.”
“Bull. What’s happening with going straight?”
Dan sat up and shifted the phone to his other ear. “Workin’ on it.”
“That’s convincing…not.”
“I’m thinking,” he said.
“Shouldn’t be that hard. It’s not like you’re a ghetto kid with no future. You’ve got a whole good life in front of you.”
“I suppose.”
“They’re sending you to rehab?” Megan asked.
Dan picked up soda cans and deposited them in a waste can. “Not yet. I
