Up the Down Escalator: A True Story of Love, Alcoholism, and a Superfund Site

While working in a lab just months after graduating with a BA in chemistry, Barbara met Ray Esposito, a real scientist, who had recently experienced a personal tragedy. They began a risky affair, considering themselves "star-crossed lovers." As they worked toward their dream of being together, they were blithely unaware that they were walking over minefields that would eventually threaten Barbara's very survival.

Their relationship began with life on the lam, starting a family, and establishing a business selling paint removers and recycling dirty solvents. Ultimately the EPA designated Ray's facility as a Superfund site, and Ray became a scapegoat. The publicity was crushing. They never knew where friends and family members really stood, and they were stabbed in the back more than once.

Things started snowballing in a way that tested not only their love for each other but their sanity. What happened next propelled Barbara into a downward spiral, and alcohol became her crutch. Fueled by the additional strain of her disintegrating relationship with Ray, she kept drinking until the alcohol was driving everything. All she could think about was getting her next drink.

Barbara's journey eventually led her back to the land of the living, but would she and Ray be able to find peace and reconciliation after all they had experienced?