The men’s bar is packed with attractive men with carefully sculpted bodies, tight jeans and leather jackets. To reach a table, the four of us envision squeezing through bodies that are jammed up against each other as though by magnetic force. The server is polite and is managing by some sixth sense to lead us to a table. As we sit looking around the room, I am stunned, as though invisible lightning had hit me. Only two tables in front of us is the renowned, known-alcoholic writer I had come to know by his works and especially by the biography, “Tom.” I know his reputation, and I know he enjoys a good drink. Not just a good drink, but a good stiff drink.
What should I do? The question pulls itself like taffy in my mind as I roll it over and over and over. It comes in a wink. Calling the server, I tell him I’d like to buy the gentleman, covertly pointing with my hand and tipping my head in his direction, a drink. The server turns, nimbly walks through the packed bodies and stops at “his” table and relates my offer. His lips move momentarily. There is no look in my direction. No acknowledgment of me at all. The server immediately comes back to my table.
“I’m sorry,” the server says with a somewhat bemused expression, “He said he doesn’t drink.”
P. A. Farrell is a psychologist and published author with McGraw-Hill, Springer Publishing, Cafe Lit, Ravens Perch, Humans of the World, Active Muse, Free Spirit Publishing, Scarlet Leaf Review, 100 Word Project, Woodcrest Magazine, Confetti, and LitBreak. She’s a top health writer for Medium.com, has published self-help books, and is a board member of Clinics4Life.
