Summary

Exhausted by psychiatric visits, drained bank accounts and no signs of improvement in Noah, Janie has grown desperate. Nightmares visit Noah every night and baths are no longer an option, as he works himself into such a panic before touching the water that he has an asthma attack. Doctors are baffled by her son’s case, and Janie's lack of contact with Noah's father means that exploring family history is not an option. One psychiatrist even suggests that Noah may have childhood onset schizophrenia, comparing him to another case: “There was a child who spoke often of something traumatic that had happened to him during a war. He drew violent pictures of bayoneting. Rape” (62). Janie's only viable option at this point is to medicate her son, a solution that she rejects almost immediately after Googling the side effects...