Shrinks and Drinks

We got this woman here who has a drinking problem. She has been fighting it for years. Her main weapon in this battle is a psychiatrist in New Orleans. Every Monday she takes the City of New Orleans down to the city and checks herself into a Canal Street hotel. From what I've heard she spends Monday night on Bourbon Street feeding her habit. Then at 10 AM on Tuesday morning she gropes her way to the doctor's office where she spills out all the reasons and rationalizations for her drinking. She tells these things to everybody she come across here in Harper so if venting is her reason for the doctor visit she gets the same thing for free at home. But we don't have a Bourbon Street here, in fact all we have that's anything like that is the Do Drop Inn. She told Dorothy the other day when she dropped by the house that she could quit anytime she wanted to. Dorothy said, "I could start anytime I wanted to." I'm not sure what Dorothy was getting at but the woman was in tears when she left.

Tales of Harper, short stories and poems about the fictional town of Harper, Mississippi is available on Amazon Kindle

Coming soon: More Tales of Harper (an ebook on Amazon)