In The Spellman Files, I am currently reading the chapter titled "The Drug Deal." This precedes the chapter titled "Isabel Snorts Cocaine: The Movie." But it's not what you think! This is not like Go Ask Alice or Tweak or any other drug memoir.
Isabel realizes that her younger sister Rae is following her. She also knows that Rae is afraid of her dentist boyfriend, Daniel. Thus, Isabel creates an elaborate plan to trick her younger sister. Knowing that Rae is tailing behind, Isabel picks Daniel up at his apartment one night to "buy drugs" at an abandoned warehouse. A man in a Pittsburgh Steelers jersey, baggy jeans, and gold jewelry answers the door. He prods a gun into Daniel's chest before handing Isabel an unmarked vial to have a "taste." At that moment, Rae bursts into the room, clamors for the gun, and points it straight at the man in the jersey. Shortly afterwards, Isabel reveals to Rae that it is all a set-up: the gun is not loaded, the mysterious white powder in the baggies is powdered sugar, and the two drug dealers in the warehouse are students at the Academy of Dramatic Arts.
However, the chapter is written so that the reader only knows as much as Rae. For the entire chapter, I thought that Isabel was actually purchasing drugs and was in a dangerous situation. Lisa Lutz dropped some hints into the narrative that suggested the drug deal was fake. For instance, Isabel comments that she wishes she had "written a script." I was fooled, however, and was as shocked as Rae when Isabel told the truth!
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