ShaMercurial
They say laughter is the best medicine. But what do you do when the only prescription you need is a negative drug test?
Shakeem Greene (aka Sha Mercurial) is at a crossroads. At 32, he's trading the spotlight of the comedy club for the rigors of the New York Army National Guard. He wants to be a Combat Medic. He wants to save lives. But first, he has to survive his own life.
After a heartbreaking breakup fueled by fears of racial profiling in the military, Shakeem finds himself homeless, hopping between friends' couches in Syracuse, and fighting a ticking clock. One stupid mistake-a single hit of a friend's joint-has reset his entire timeline. Now, he faces the "Double Negative Protocol": two perfect at-home drug tests, weeks of paranoid detoxing, and the looming shadow of MEPS.
*The Clean Break* is a gritty, hilarious, and deeply human story about identity, race, and the absurd lengths we go to for a fresh start. It's about the irony of trying to bring order to a war zone when you can't even bring order to your own bedroom.
Join Shakeem as he navigates the bureaucracy of enlistment, the humiliation of couch-surfing, and the terrifying realization that the hardest battle might not be overseas-it might be proving he's worthy of the uniform in the first place.
From the heartbreak of a lover who fears for his safety to the sheer panic of waiting for THC to leave his system, Shakeem's journey to enlistment is a masterclass in dark comedy. With an ASVAB score that proves he's smart and a life that proves he's chaotic, he must navigate the "Clean Break": severing ties with his old life and staying clean enough to pass the strictest drug tests known to man.
Raw, unfiltered, and laugh-out-loud funny, *The Clean Break* asks the question: Can you fix the world if you can't even fix yourself?
**Content Warning:** Strong language, themes of addiction/recovery, racial tension, and adult situations.