Clyde wanted a drink. It had been a brutal day at the office capped off by a hellish commute. Apparently there’d been an accident on the bridge. Clyde hated sitting in traffic and he hated coming home late because of it. He was stewing. A tall glass of whiskey would do the trick. Take the edge off. Allow Clyde to relax, sink into his La-Z-Boy, zone out on the TV while waiting for Eva to finish dinner. A whiskey would do the trick, all right.
But no. There was no more whiskey or any other kind of booze in Clyde’s life. Not anymore. After twenty-five years of easing the pain through alcohol, Clyde was off the stuff for good. Too often that one drink had led to six, seven, eight, nine drinks. Too often Clyde had gotten blotto, blacked out, sometimes terrorizing Eva and the kids. She’d been on the verge of leaving him and taking the kids with her when he finally wised up and went to AA. He’d been sober for two months. He’d traded one problem for another. He was no longer a stinking drunkard but he no longer had a coping mechanism. Booze had gotten him into a lot of messes, but it had also gotten him through a lot of stress and anxiety.
Not getting high was difficult, managing life without booze seemed impossible. For the millionth time Clyde bemoaned the fact that he couldn’t stop at one or two drinks. Oh sure sometimes he had, but too often that second segued right into a bender. Trying to cut back never worked.
Tonight would be a good night to hit an AA meeting but Clyde just didn’t have the energy to get back in the car and drive for twenty minutes and sit for an hour then drive back home. That would be nearly two hours from what was left of his evening, and thanks to the commute from hell he had less evening than usual. No, he’d just sit here and stew. Maybe turn the damn TV on and see if that could distract him from the overwhelming desire to bolt out of the house to the nearest bar and have a good stiff one.
Eva emerged from the kitchen and sat down for what was obviously supposed to be a pleasant husband and wife chat. Such conversations were easier for Clyde back when he had a buzz going.
“Dinner’ll be ready in ten minutes, hon. So other than a lousy commute, how was your day?”
“Busy, stressful, nothing much to talk about, frankly.”
“You thought about about going to a meeting tonight?”
“God, Eva you can’t manage my sobriety I have to make those decisions myself, it’s up to me to stay sober.”
“Just asking.”
“Yeah, sure, I’m sorry. I’m just too tired tonight, I’ll go to that sunrise meeting in the morning and then hit one tomorrow night.”
“Would you rather not talk?”
“Eva….I just, I’m afraid this whole sobriety deal is making me a little cranky. I’m so used to having a drink after work to calm down. It’s hard, is all.”
“I love you Clyde.”
Clyde looked over at his wife. She was beautiful. Petite, tanned, wearing a short dress, looking more like thirty than the forty-five she actually was. Eva was smiling sweetly at him. Clyde realized how lucky he was.
“I love you too, Eva. Thanks for being so patient with me.”
“Your worth it.” She got up and kissed him on the forehead. “I’ll call you to dinner in a few minutes. Would you let the kids know we’re about to eat?”
Daughter Sela and son Declan were in their respective rooms. Clyde loved his children. Sela was fifteen and Declan thirteen and both had survived their Dad’s drinking bouts and still loved him. Clyde knew that the only way to stay sober was to do it for yourself, but Eva and the children were inspirations. They didn’t deserve a drunk in the house.
Clyde let the kids know to get ready for dinner and was headed for the kitchen himself when the phone rang. A phone call is not what he needed right now.
It was his damn boss, Ed Levit. Ed was a tough son of a bitch. Everyone at work respected the hell out of him, but not a soul liked him. How could you like a fella with such a tough exterior?
Ed had never called Clyde at home before. Clyde was sure it was bad news.
“Sorry to call you at home, Clyde, but it’s something of an emergency. I had to let Ben Evans go today, I’m pretty darn sure he was skimming and I may look into criminal prosecution, but that’s not for you tell anyone. Anyhow, I need you to fill in for him at the meeting tomorrow, can you do that?”
“Sure I can.” Clyde was shocked to hear about Ben Evans but was pleased he’d be pinch hitting for him.
“So look the other part of this is that I’d like you to take Ben’s position. Before you say anything one way or the other you need to know that it’d mean more work and more responsibilities but another $100 a week in your paycheck plus a bigger year-end bonus. You can think about it overnight if you need to.”
Clyde did not need to think about it overnight or even for another second. “Sure, hell yes, a promotion. Don’t need to think about that.”
“Great, we’ll talk about it over lunch tomorrow. So the meeting’s at 9:00. See me about half an hour before and I’ll prep you.”
“You can count on me.”
“I know I can. Thanks, Clyde. Have a good night.”
“You too, boss. Good night.”
After hanging up Clyde literally jumped for joy.
The family talked about it over dinner. Everyone was delighted about the extra income but Eva was worried about the extra hours.
“Hell, it won’t be that much. Maybe a late day a couple of times a week, an hour, two at the most. A very occasional weekend I might have to go in. I can handle it. Just to make you feel better I’ll call my sponsor after dinner and like I said earlier I’ll hit two meetings tomorrow.”
Clyde did just that. He was going to take his sobriety one day at a time. Maybe he’d be okay.
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