Long Way Down

The cloud of smoke created by Dani and Buck fills the elevator, so Will can’t see the next person to get on. Suddenly, he is wrapped in a headlock. He feels as if he is choking. The mystery man laughs, and Will is angry, until he hears the man calling him nephew. It is his Uncle Mark, his father’s long-dead younger brother, who pulls Will closer, wanting to look him over. Uncle Mark is big: “Six foot four / Six foot five / (Six feet deep)” (160). He tells Will, “Look like your damn daddy” (160). Uncle Mark loved movies—he videotaped everything. He wanted to make a film, and through that project introduced Will’s father to his mother, Shari. But before Will can be too sentimental, Mark asks about the gun in his waistband.

Will recalls the story of Uncle Mark’s death. He lost his video camera and didn’t want to work or ask for money or steal a new one. So he started selling drugs on the corner. He only planned to do it for one day, but of course the money went to his head.