While You Were Out: An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence

Meg always felt that her younger brother Danny lived in the shadow of Billy, who was more outgoing. One day when Danny was just entering university, he admitted to Meg that he and two other people were responsible for a hate crime. A report in the local paper outlined how a tire shop owner was being harassed with mail addressed to famous Nazis. Danny and the two other men orchestrated this revenge when they felt the man overcharged them. Meg urged Danny to come forward, but he refused and was discovered to be responsible a few weeks later. Local newspapers covered the story, and Danny tried to claim that he wasn’t involved, blaming it all on his two friends. In retaliation, they fabricated a story about Danny dressing as Hitler for Halloween.

As Danny’s trial continued and he tried to evade jail time, Meg and Larry planned their wedding, a fun-filled day and a moment of respite from all the drama. A photograph in this chapter shows Danny and Meg at her wedding, staring happily at each other during a game of chicken. After Danny served four weekends of jail time, Meg invited him to stay with her and Larry for a while, during which time Danny seemed severely depressed.