
early in the story, a May morning
Charlie Decker's morning routine
Charlie Decker wakes up on a pleasant May morning, keeping his breakfast down and spotting a squirrel on the lawn of Placerville High School during Algebra II. He reflects on the lawn's unpretentious growth and recalls a town meeting two years prior where his friend Joe McKennedy defended the lawn against a proposed pavilion. This memory marks the approximate time Charlie believes he began losing his mind.