Blessings and Curses

While on spring break in San Francisco, an intoxicated young woman named Helen McCloud discovers that her father will soon take his own life; his e-mail confirms it, and he won't answer his phone. But before she can contact him, she's confronted on a darkened street by a gun-wielding thief. She must summon the courage to endure the horrifying event, and fly back to her hometown in Washington, so she can stop her father from drowning in alcohol, inasmuch as her own addiction, and prevent his impending suicide. This novella is loosely based on a true event.