Not Without Anna
By Vicki M Taylor

     Anna Marshall is found dead, floating in the swimming pool during a post-high school graduation party. Her death is ruled an accidental drowning by the police, but a subsequent autopsy shows traces of alcohol and the drug, Ecstacy, in her system. None of the teenagers who attended the pool party (when they could be located) will cooperate with the police as to the source of either the drug or alcohol.

     Anna's mother, Katherine, a psychiatrist, is devastated by the death and the revelation of the drug and alcohol abuse. Always convinced she had been doing well with Anna, she questions her role as a mother, trying to determine where she was lacking.

     Anna's boy friend, Mike, son of newspaper columnist, Charles Beckett, is unable to cope with Anna's death, which weighs heavily on his conscience. Charles, too, begins to doubt his effectiveness as a father.

    Anna's friends also have trouble with Anna's death.

     Katherine and Charles both realize something should be done to give the teenagers of the town direction and a reason to abstain from drugs and alcohol. They set out to include the towns' people in their efforts.

     This is a compelling glimpse into the lives of teenagers and their reasons for using drugs, alcohol and sex with no end in sight. It is the constant search by parents to regain the responsibility for their children and of their feelings of inadequacies. The author offers possible solutions for the problems.