The Weekend Freewrite — Single Prompt: What happens at 10?

The ochre-colored leather comfy chair of this coffee shop has my name on it. Quite literally. A few years ago, after I’d had too many glasses of wine too early in the day, I’d used a Sharpie to scrawl Bob was here on the seat cushion when nobody was looking.

As it happens, the day before I’d taken one of those online self-assessment tests that purported to determine if you were an alcoholic. I’d scored a 9. What happens at 10? You pass the threshold and are deemed an alcoholic. And one of the questions had been Have you ever been ashamed of something you’d done after drinking alcohol? I had clicked on the NO button. And the very next day did something that would have then made YES the honest answer.

So I started taking a long hard look at myself. I didn’t like what I saw. A few weeks after the Sharpie incident, I stopped drinking. Three years sober now. Never bothered with AA, did it on my own.

So now when I sit in the ochre chair, I stick to double espressos. Lots of them. If there’s a test for caffeineholics, I’m a 12.

Written in response to the #freewrite challenges that @mariannewest has been posting.

^{Badge thanks to @arcange}

^{Pixabay image by: Vinotecarium (source)}