Ditta Sylvester, Contributor

The music was sweet and the atmosphere, mellow. The food was good and plenty and so was the rum. Amidst subdued giggles and much good-natured ribbing, the guests toasted the Connollys as they celebrated the anniversary of their wedding. Allan thanked them loudly and laughed uproariously at an unfunny joke he had made.

As Stacey watched him stagger to the bathroom, she asked:

"Daddy sick, Mommy?"

Apprehensively, Claudette's eyes followed her husband.

"No, love," she told the child. "You dad just … just happy."

The party ended not long after and Allan fell asleep on the settee. He missed work the day after and the couch had to be professionally cleaned of the vomit he left on it that night.

It had been eight years since Claudette had gone against her mother's advice and married Allan Connolly. Miss Jenny had warned her that Allan came from a long line of 'drunk a'ready' men and that it would be only a matter of time before he too would begin using liquor to wash whatever goodness there was in him away. But Claudette was in love and refused to be dissuaded.

For the first few years, Allan was the perfect husband. He worked hard and was absent from his job in the Tax Office only once or twice a year, when he had the flu. Claudette became a stay-at-home mom after Stacey was born. It was a few months after the birth of their son, Craig, that she began to notice that Allan was no longer just a social drinker. The occasions on which he came home drunk became more frequent as the months passed and Claudette began to fear that Miss Jenny would soon begin to tell her:

"Who can't hear mus' feel!"

Allan said it was nothing for his wife to get so excited about.

"But you ruin di chair!" she objected, the morning after. "How will I face my friends after your behaviour last night?"

"You take people opinion too serious," he told her.

"What about yuh children opinion?" Claudette asked. "You don't care what dem think either?"

Allan hissed and walked away.

He came home sober that night. The family had dinner together and Allan settled down to watch his favourite TV programme. She had just sent the children to bed when Claudette asked:

"We still in love Allan?"

He looked up, surprised.

"What kinda question dat now! So what all dat excitement an celebration last night was about?"

"That is no answer at all!" Claudette persisted.

Allan groaned.

"A'right, I still love you," he said. "Now shut up make I watch my show!"

"If you really care 'bout me," Claudette continued, "you would take my advice an start go to AA meeting."

Angrily, he glared at her.

"I see you not going give me any peace tonight," he said, getting up. "I goin down ah Ross' bar. Maybe I can find little peace an' quiet down dere!"

He stormed out of the house and came back a few minutes after midnight.

"What I goin do, Mum? Claudette asked her mother, the evening of the following day.

Miss Jenny shook her head sadly.

"Get a job," she advised.

"Why?"

"Because at dis rate, Allan mus' soon lose him job," Miss Jenny predicted. "How you an' dem children goin' eat? Him have plenty money a bank?"

Her mother's words frightened her. Abruptly, she left and hurried back home. They had a joint bank account but she had not checked on it in months.

She pulled out the dresser drawer where the bank book was kept. It was not there. Frantically, she pulled the other drawers out, dumping their contents on the bed. Still nothing. Finally, she found it on a shelf on Allan's side of the closet.

She flipped through the pages. When and why had Allan made so many withdrawals? Then she saw the final balance and a strange little sound escaped her. They were broke! Flat broke! Claudette put her face in her hands and wept.

Through her tears she saw the bottle of Vodka Allan had hidden among his clothes. Angrily, she grabbed hold of it. She wanted to smash the bottle to pieces but she held back. They didn't even have money for the doctor if somebody should get cut by broken bottle.

Gingerly, she removed the cover and took a whiff. Awful! She was always so disgusted by this stuff. But why couldn't Allan stay away from it? Curiously, she took a sip. It stung like a serpent. She gasped and replaced the cover. Then she paused as she felt herself consumed by an indescribably wonderful feeling. She smiled. She had been feeling so unhappy lately. She deserved even a few minutes break from the hell Allan was putting her through, Claudette told herself. She opened the bottle again.

When he came home that evening, Allan found his wife on the floor. The bank book and an almost empty bottle of Vodka were beside her. The children were unattended and hungry and Claudette was stoned drunk.

He never knew he could feel so afraid. He told the children that their mommy would soon be okay and began to sober up his wife. He helped her bathe and change and into bed. Then he made dinner for his children and settled them down for the night.

By the time Claudette had slept off her binge, Allan had removed every bottle of liquor from his various hiding places in the house and emptied them all in the kitchen sink. He was still watching TV when she woke up late that night.

"What happen?" she asked him from the doorway." Her head was throbbing. "Craig an' Stacey alright?"

"Yes," Allan told her. "Come sit down here a little." He patted the seat beside him. "I want to talk to you."

She sat down and he told her about the number of times he had had to pay the courts for driving drunk. He had also made withdrawals from their bank account to make up for the Tax Office's docking his pay when he was absent from work.

"I feel terrible about dis whole thing," he told his wife. "I don't want to lose my family."

"So what you goin' do about it?" Claudette asked.

"I goin check out dat AA thing tomorrow," he told her. "But I want you to make me a promise, Claudette."

"Promise?"

"Yes. Never to touch liquor again!"

"I promise," Claudette said. Then as an afterthought: "If you promise to get help for your drinking problem."

"I have to," Allan replied. "Seeing you drunk is like seeing you and my children dead."

Somebody would have had to pay Claudette to take another drink. The hangover had been enough to completely swear her off something she had never liked. For her husband, it was not as easy. Allan was eventually able, however, to get the help he needed to regain his status as a respectable husband and father.