The First Step, Hi' Steppin'

It is a story of a young man, Paul Undres who on the day of 9/11 seeks shelter from unabated crack usage at the Tampa VA. He is delusional and rather than listen he reads from his personal journal his concerns to the admitting psychiatrist and later to others that cross his path. From the Tampa VA he is transferred to a temporary housing facility, SafePlace, where he awaits an opening into a rehab center called Avon Park. At SafePlace he experiences a gun suicide by his roommate who has read too much of Paul's journal for his own good. In between the VA and SafePlace, he manages to go home before Avon Park and use crack one more time to get his monies worth. In the end, he is kicked out of Avon Park because he bums too many cigarettes and doesn't dig the program, but not before he makes a commitment to try recovery. The book ends with a rather cavalier approach to AA that works. The book closes with the blacks apologizing for all the bad dope they gave him and offer him one of their best girls as a token to which music is played as they HI' Step in true AA fashion.

Al's life eerily follows the details of his main character of which he publicly denies. He lives in Tampa Florida during the timeline of the book and has twenty years of AA recovery under his belt. He is a veteran who receives 100 per cent disability and attends AA twice a day. He is a bachelor with no kids and looks forward to the remaining years of singularity.