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The Spectacular Now Chapter 23 Summary

  • Back home that afternoon, Sutter's mom calls him from work to make sure he's there, like he's supposed to be, and to threaten him with military school again.
  • He's finally realized it was pretty awful of him to burn up his brother-in-law's suit.
  • Hmmm, you think?
  • Ricky—who's hanging out with him—thinks it's weird that his parents keep talking about the military academy when he's only got three months till graduation.
  • Sutter assumes it's just their way of showing him how much they think he stinks. He thinks they'd actually like it if he died in a war, since they could act all patriotic and brag about it for years.
  • Ricky goes off on how his family's in the military, and how he's totally against the war.
  • Sutter offers him a martini, but Ricky says he's cutting back on alcohol and marijuana.
  • It's just not fun anymore – like, when he was a little kid, and saw a fountain in a bank lobby, he thought it was the most magical thing ever…but now that he's older, he doesn't have that wonder anymore.
  • The drugs and alcohol helped him get that wonder back. Not anymore. Now they're old, too.
  • Ricky's really on a roll, waxing all philosophical, even without any weed (!), about how society turns people into empty, commercialized products.
  • Sutter eggs him on, and then even agrees to stop drinking with him for the rest of the week – uh, weekend.
  • Ricky can't hang out with him this weekend, though. He's meeting Bethany's parents.
  • Sutter's bummed, but Ricky tells him to spend the time with Aimee instead.
  • He insists he doesn't like her that way – it's more like he wants to save her.