Shawn J. Teixeira's memoir, Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, begins in 1971 when Shawn was just 2 years old. Guam may have been an idyllic setting for growing up, but Shawn's was not the ideal childhood. His stepfather begins the downward spiral of abuse, starting with the verbal and the physical, and none of the children are immune. The household becomes a regular place for drugs and alcohol. Even Shawn's mother becomes both battered and abusive. The tale continues through Shawn's childhood to his self-liberation at age 18.