Alcoholics - Anonymous

I do not remember how long I have been lying here.

It seems like a very long time. May be I should get up and walk awhile to clear off the lazy feeling in my limbs. Where are they? I don't seem to feel anything at all, not even my body parts. Wait a minute. What was it that I said? My limbs were alright. The only difficulty was that I couldn't move them. I was glad that they didn't ache. What was wrong with me? Where was I in my last awaken hours?

I remember having said farewell to my last customer and ringing home on my way. I had dropped in to say hello to my friends spending some time with them cracking wild jokes. I didn’t think that the small doze of alcohol I had taken was having any effect on my driving on the way home. I remember a flash of light and a loud noise and it seems I was left in darkness ever since.

Was I blinded? Methylated Spirit? No, that couldn’t be, for I could see the small streak of light flashing through the broken window panes, and the mosquitoes that were illuminated for a moment as they flew through it. By the way, there had not been any broken panes in my house! Could it be that it was a new creation be that it was the creation of the cricket-crazy boys in the neighborhood?

I must have dozed off for some time because I could now hear voices, all of them unfamiliar. They seemed to be arguing over something. They kept repeating that they were all in a hurry and wanted the matter done away with as quickly as possible. What matter? After some time there was the sound of shuffling feet and the sounds died down in a jiffy. I could sense that something was seriously wrong.

Where was I anyway? All that I could see in my lying position was the cracked ceiling which was in the verge of collapsing any moment. There was this nasty smell of some sort of chemical or was it the smell of the stuff my friends had entertained me with?

It is now high time that I gathered my bearings. The room was definitely not my home. Was I in some government hospital? In a single bedded room? No way! There was no drip connected nor any bystander or nurse nearby. The bed was hard like marble, had no mattress nor any bed sheet and I was in soiled clothes soaked in my own blood. Why was that? Where was my family? Didn’t anybody have the sense to change me into something more presentable? Wasn’t I caring for them despite being an alcohol addict? Didn’t I deserve something more respectable?

Speak of the devil! Here comes somebody! I should give them a piece of my mind!

“Don’t Worry.”

I could hear a voice consoling somebody.

“We will do the post-mortem as quickly as we receive the inquest report and request from the police. Meanwhile you can proceed with all arrangements for cremation. I hope all relatives have arrived”

Foot note: The idea of this short story crossed my mind while doing a PM on an accident victim. I wondered how his mind would have worked, had he been able to think for himself.

Alcohol after driving is injurious to your health.
Alcohol while driving is injurious to everybody's health.

[This was originally published in K. G. M. O. A Journal February, 2004]