8. Half Measures

The man’s name was Herbert, but friends called him ‘Matey.’  Matey wasn’t a reference to pirates, but a slurring of ‘M80’, a firecracker that blew off the tip of his pinky finger when he was a teenager.  He never drank vodka again.  He stopped drinking tequila after his first DUI; whiskey when he got caught shooting at a cow, from his car, without a hunting license, during small game season. (He claimed from a distance the cow looked like a groundhog.)

Matey reminded me of people who don’t take an entire course of antibiotics, killing some but not all the bacteria.  The bugs that live grow stronger, more resistant to medicine.  Avoiding certain drinks let Matey believe he was in control, so he fought going to rehab. While he resisted treatment, alcohol’s hold on him grew stronger.

Today I’ll beware of ‘half measures.’

Sober Not Somber © 2015 by Ken Montrose

(Just a reminder: Sober Not Somber is a work of fiction.  Any resemblance to anyone you might know is purely coincidental.)