by Thokozile Gurganious

Created on: September 03, 2010   Last Updated: September 05, 2010

Drinking often turns people into completely different human beings than they normally are. Take for example, my neighbor, Pepee. He is a nice man who takes pride in the way he dresses and the way he carries himself in public. He has a beautiful wife, Sweetie, and two very handsome twin boys. Pepee works at the bank, and his wife teaches Sabbath school and washes dishes at the local soup kitchen. They are a perfect couple, except for the end of every month. Every end of the month, Pepee gets paid, and fortunately, he only gets paid once a month. The first Friday after he gets paid, he becomes a totally different creature. 

Friday, Pepee leaves work at 4:30 p.m. armed with a significant part of his pay check, for the "Wiseman's Nest", the drinking hole he has been faithful to ever since he was baptized into the waters of Babylon. There he parks his babe, a red BMW, under the big Togwe( a semi-dessert wild fruit tree with chewy but slimy fruits). He emerges from his car, peals off his jacket and, hanging it behind his back on one of his fingers he walks rhythmically into the oasis, whistling happily. He is temporarily blinded as he enters the bar, and stops to accustom his hurt eyes to the sudden darkness inside. Then he takes position in a strategic corner of the bar from where he can see all the people entering or leaving the bar. This is a necessity for him because he has not been here since a month ago, and needs to see his friends come in so that he can alert them of his presence.  Before long, a bevy of beauties and a pack of dudes surround him. Like most drinkers, he is very generous, and makes sure there is no dry cup on his table. It is as if he owns the machines that mint the dollar. The crowd loves him. One, two, three……ten, eleven….

"Well, Pepee, you have to leave now. You are the only one in the bar, we have to go. Let's go," says one of the bartenders as they help him up. Pepee's neck is acting like there are no bones supporting it.  His mouth is drooling as if he is a baby. His speech is slurred. As the two bartenders falter under his weight, he mutters that they should take him to the tree. They know what he is talking about, because although there are several trees outside, there is only one tree that he could be talking about.  They help him to get used to standing by himself, and then tell him to walk out as they follow him. They must follow him, to make sure he does not fall down, because once he falls

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>