Better Not

“Do you think I should go to Vegas?” Cara asked.

“There’s someplace even warmer you should go,” I said. She punched me, being careful not to make too tight a fist so as not to risk breaking a nail. I wondered why my friends were so violent.  “If you’re thinking of rescuing Josh, then no.”

“Why not? I’m not working and I’ve got the money to travel. I might be able to bring him back.”

“You might, but until he’s broke again, he won’t want to come back.  Once he gambles away his money, he’s going to look for people to enable him. He’ll ask for a loan. He’ll stick you with his hotel bill, maybe even beg you to pay off sketchy people he owes money to.”

“So I just watch him fail?”

“Not much you can do until he’s ready to get help,” I said with a heavy sigh.  “You can tell him when he’s ready, you’ll do whatever you can to help him get help.”

“This sucks,” Cara said, “being powerless over a friend’s addiction.”

“It certainly does. You can’t control him, you can only take care of yourself and not enable.”

Today I will accept being powerless over other people’s addictions.

Dogged Determination ©2018 by Ken Montrose

Dogged Determination is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at: www.greenbriartraining.com https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/