stone sober

stone sober

fiction
Edward w Pritchard


It's good for a man to be stone sober occasionally. Not for ever mind you, but sometimes it clears the head, provides a perspective on where he stands in life's hierarchy and organizes one's priorities.

There's a lot of coughing at night down at the county farm, that's what they call the local jail here. The coughing wakes me up around five AM and I can't get back to sleep. I spend the hour until showers and breakfast reflecting on what has happened in my Life since I was here last and try to piece together what it all means.

I don't look at anyone during showers and priority one is to get through it without fighting or a verbal
accosting. Five days mandatory time for disruption in showers is enforced.

Hung-over nothing could be worse than stiff white toast and artificial yellow eggs. Coffee has unlimited real sugar but is stirred with a wooden stick, the kind a doctor uses. It's hard to gag it down.

If Bowman is on AM duty he reads a short prayer. Prayer is illegal now so he always says it's the verse of the Day.

If one is ready in the morning to be Judged there is a sure fire test to see if one is sober enough to go before Judge Murphy.

There's a long narrow raised walkout that crosses the canal between the Jail and courthouse with no rail that many a drunk has fallen back into before he faces Judgment. Fall into the Water and it's back to jail.

Sometimes a man needs a good dousing before he is judged. But not today for me. It's good for a man to be absolutely stone sober occasionally and to maybe get another chance.