I walked back to the guest house.
I couldn't wait to get back. I thought about cracking open the bottle, but a cop car cruised by. He slowed down as he neared me, scoping me up and down. Seeing that I looked white, he drove past.
I kept the cap on the bottle.
Greg finally left for work.
I pulled the pint out from the sofa cushions where I had stashed it, grabbed a glass, put on the stereo and sat at the table.
I lifted the bottle out of the paper bag. I felt just like a kid at Christmas.
I didn't need Jane. The hell with her and Fran. The hell with everybody. I got all I want right here.
I stared at the booze. My reflection looked back at me. It seemed like it was floating in liquid gold, or, like a fly trapped in amber. I could roam the world and never find the riches that sat inches from me. My Eldorado.
I grabbed the bottle and twisted off the cap, the tax seal snapped without so much as a fight.
Every cell in my body could already taste it. My throat involuntarily tightened, waiting for the burn of the liquor. My mind waited for its warmth, its numbing bliss.
I inhaled the aroma of the whiskey. Its familiar smell gave me comfort. Like climbing into your own bed on a cold night with a lover. All safe and secure.
I lifted the bottle and poured some of its precious contents into the glass.
I put a finger on the lip of the glass and made a circle around the rim.
All I wanted was this drink. All I'd ever need was sloshing around in the glass I touched.
I stopped playing with the glass, picked it up, and raised it to my lips.
RING.
I put the glass down and went to answer the phone.
"Hello?"
It was Hugo.
"Yeah, it's been a rough couple of days...What? I don't think I can. Not today. Not yet...Why the hell should I?... You don't understand!"
I picked up the glass and saw my reflection, again.
A fly trapped in amber. Forever.
I lowered the glass, responding with silence as Hugo waited. Softly, I whispered, "Okay. I'll go."
