I just read Stephen King’s latest book, Dr. Sleep, and Mr. King discusses his recent time in AA.

Years ago I wrote a lot about my time in drug and alcohol recovery and the experience of being a sponsor. I especially wrote about the fifth step in the Twelve Steps.

It won’t give away any of the plot if I say that at the end of the book, King says exactly what I said years ago about the fifth step.

The fourth step is the long one, when you write down over a long period of time every single fault you have and every single thing you are ashamed of.

The fifth step is the short one, which you dread like poison. You have to tell one person EVERYTHING you wrote in the fourth step.

Yes, EVERYTHING. Most people dread something about sex they think is especially disgusting.

In a time when I was on my ass, it made me feel good that so many people chose ME to tell their most dreaded secrets to.

But, as usual with tragic situations, I told you the funny side of the fifth step.

The victim would reveal what was to him his most disgusting secret. He had been dreading this for months. Can you imagine telling someone what you consider the most shameful thing you have ever done, or more usually, your most disgusting urges?

Then you get a shock.

As a many times Fifth Step veteran, let me tell you that what you consider humiliating beyond belief, what you have dreaded revealing for months, is simply not that big a deal to the recovering addict you are confessing to.

I said this many times years ago:

1)  A person who is finally doing the Dreaded Fifth Step Confesses His Sin.

2) But the Sin that is a huge deal to you is not a huge deal to me.

Naturally the Secret King’s hero finally told to an AA meeting was much more dramatic than what I heard.

But the result was exactly the same.

He made the confession that he could not bring himself to make in front of his own sponsor.

He was crying, he told them, at long last, of his guilt and his shame. He expected a horrified reaction.

What he got was a roomful of people who wanted to finish their coffee.

Nobody is in AA because they went to church too often.

They finished their coffee and went home.

A hell of an ending to a hell of a book.