Danielle's heart was suddenly pounding with an urgency and anticipation that made the cigarette smoke she was trying to inhale into her lungs feel all the more relaxing. As she pursed her full lips and exhaled a thick stream into the night air, she maintained eye contact with her daughter who had left her last words hanging in the room like a proverbial carrot.

"I think that's probably a bad idea," she whispered, mostly to herself.

It wasn't that she was unsure if what she was saying was true; of course it was. Smoking meth was a bad idea. Full stop. Regardless of how recklessly she'd been trampling over the...