Editor's Note: All this week, we're sharing writing produced by residents of Fort Lyon Supportive Residential Community, which provides recovery-oriented transitional housing, counseling, and services for homeless individuals.
Lighthouse is sending three writers-in-residence to Fort Lyon this year to help participants explore personal histories and provide a forum for practicing creative exploration. This piece was produced during writer-in-residence John Cotter's stay at Fort Lyon in March. For more information about the Fort Lyon residency, click here.
By Annie Bacon
Upon polishing off my daily fifth, I realize it’s 7:30 PM. The liquor store will close at 8. I need to get going: I will need John Barleycorn for the morning. Jumping into my dependable Saab, we race through the night to the store.
I’m a quarter mile from my destination. Man, I hope that lady isn’t working. She knows; I know she knows that I’m a drunk. What’s this? Those flashing lights behind me can’t be for me. I’ll pull over and let him pass.
However, when I do so, he pulls in behind me. Shit. I retrieve the necessary paperwork for him as he approaches my little Saab. His flashlight illuminates my face as I roll the window down.
“What have I done, officer?”
He inspects the necessary paperwork and asks if I have been drinking. Me?
“Please step out of the car, miss, and walk toward me,” he replies as he backs up. Okay Annie, you can do this. I step toward him, eyes to the ground. His flashlight appears as a spotlight. I hope no one I know drives by. My steps are impaired, and he knows it.
“Okay Annie, turn around please.”
Handcuffs? I’m not violent; I’m not going to run. As he drives me to I know not where (I think, for a moment, he’s taking me home) we leave my precious car on the side of the road. He speaks to me from the front seat.
“Annie, you’re not a bad person. You have a disease.”
I’m aghast. This guy’s in a program or someone in his close circle is.
“Officer,” I ask, “Are you taking me to jail?”
“Yes.”
I guess I’m not going to the liquor store.
