Chap 34, "Breakdown"

Taco attempts suicide.  The Pony Boys wrestle and kick some serious ass except where Taco's dad is concerned, revealed by the adult foot-sized bruise on his ribs.  Yet Paco tries to handle his friends problems himself, sneaking him up into his room on nights when Taco foregoes drinking with his sources.

The title of this chapter, breakdown, refers to a wrestling term where you literally break down your opponent, from his knees to his stomach so you can turn him to his back, but it also refers to Paco and Chad's plan breaking down.  Taco's problems definitely fit the phrase that No human power could relieve our alcoholism.

Taco's life is so unmanageable that he attempts suicide, and he winds up in the town of Aurora's legendary Emo institution:  Mercyville, a hospital with an adolescent psyche unit, which has done a pretty damn good job of keeping kids alive over the many years.  The author visited once as a guest but had many friends on the edge who chose to jump down to the safe side, accepting help.

Paco alludes to Oliver Twist, one of the author's primary inspirations for writing social protest fiction.  Paco the Great is supposed to be just that:  sexual abuse recovery fiction.  The author did not want to paint a pretty picture or a pastoral, overly-optimistic, soap-boxy portrayal of how hard it is for boys who have been sexually abused.  Growing up as damaged goods is, however, possible

The artwork in the ID3 tags is the author's first wrestling team back in fourth grade, 1979.