At the beginning of the story, the main character describes his adolescence as "a time when courtesy and winning ways went out of style, when it was good to be bad, when you cultivated decadence like a taste." The narrator and his friends, Digby and Jeff, consider themselves to be "dangerous characters;" they slouch around with toothpicks in their mouths, wear torn-up leather jackets, sniff glue, and drink gin mixed with grape juice. School has just gotten out for the summer and the three are on a constant search for adventure; their quest for the heart of darkness eventually leads them to Greasy Lake where they find themselves in far more trouble than they anticipated.

When they arrive at the lake, the boys spot what they believe to be an acquaintance's car, so they blare their horn and flas

As the narrator runs through the woods he is terrified, but evidently not completely convinced yet that he is not a "bad" character, most likely because he has managed to survive the fight. He is still in essence, running away from his problems and refusing to accept the consequences of his actions. Reaching the lake, bordered by a ring of "feculent undergrowth" the boy plunges into it, "ankle-deep in muck and tepid water." The lake to the narrator is like a type of refuge, a place of peace, until he bumps into something that causes him to experience a true revelation; "I blundered into something. Something unspeakable, obscene, something soft, wet, moss-grown. A patch of weed? A log? When I reached out to touch it, it gave like a rubber duck, it gave like flesh."

As the characters get into what's left of the car to leave, Al's friend, a stoned woman who came to look for him, approaches the boys and offers them a chance to party and take some drugs. The narrator looks at her and feels as if he is going to cry. The others also decline the offer; the night has changed their outlook on life entirely. Not longer are they willing to fool themselves and others by acting like "bad" characters.

Shocked and disgusted, and faced for perhaps the first time with his own mortality, the protagonist tries to get away, but escape from, both his childish mentality and the muck of the lake is difficult, and he plunges head-first into the corpse. Finally, the boy comprehends the serio

Some common words found in the essay are:
Greasy Lake, Digby Jeff, , greasy lake, TC Boyle's, greasy character, digby jeff, bad characters,
Approximate Word count = 996
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)