An Alcoholic's Day

YOU WAKE UP with a start, and as awareness returns, your heart begins to pound and the shakes begin again. Oh God, it's morning and you must leave the safe womb of darkness and the bed. You reach down for the bottle, knowing already that it's empty. It always is, in spite of your nightly resolve to leave a drink for morning. Never mind, there's some in the garage, if you live to get there. A quick gulp of coffee later, you're fumbling for the bottle hidden inside the old tire casing. The whiskey is tepid and revolting, and the first gulps won't stay down. But at last one does, and that wonderful, warm glow starts to spread. A few more quick ones before you back the car out, and at last your heart stops pounding and the shakes begin to die away.