I had come home from school and went into the parlor. Max was sitting there hunched over the coffee table. I had to walk past him and tried to do so as quickly as I could. As I did I saw Max was leaning over a silver platter and there was white powder on it. Max had a straw in his nose and was sniffing the powder. I had never seen anything like that before and kept staring as I walked by, which was when I tripped over one of Max's boots that he had left on the floor.

I lost my balance and fell into the table. At the...