My Name Is Eloise

DURING my childhood I had very little contact with liquor, because there was practically no drinking in my family. Then one night, when I was about seventeen, a group of us--boys and girls--had dinner at an Italian restaurant, with wine. After drinking about three glasses I suddenly began to scream. The kids rushed me out to the car and had to hold me down. I just wish I'd known then that my reaction to those first drinks was a pretty good sign that I was an alcoholic--that I was allergic to alcohol and should never, under any circumstances, take a drink. I've learned since that a certain percentage of people can't tolerate alcohol. I've learned also that alcoholism is a disease, incurable, at least up to now, but that it can be arrested.