The Man Who Had a Paper to Prove It

I DIDN'T CROSS AN "INVISIBLE LINE" into alcoholism. The line was visible, even if I saw it double. It was the edge of a rug I saw the evening I took my first ten drinks; I tripped over it and fell flat on my kisser. I had promised my mother that I would never take a drink until I was twenty-one and I was making up for lost time! That was during prohibition when getting blotto was good manners and vomiting a sign of over-enthusiasm. I thought that everybody at parties got as drunk as I did but was in no shape to tell.