Well - Part IV

So… Where does this all lead? I wish I could say that I had benefited from some great insight as a result of my beating while stumbling home drunk one evening but… I’m not sure that’s really the case.

I resolved to attempt to get myself home at an earlier hour. I decided that I would try really hard not to urinate in any strange alleyways (familiar alleyways are still fair game by that definition I guess…) and I suppose that I should say that the experience with closing out all of my credit cards and the changing of passwords and the like was a good exercise if only because it forced me to take that inventory. Oddly enough I never saw any fraudulent charges or problems as a result of my wallet being picked. I imagined that it just wound up in a dumpster somewhere after the thief grabbed the meager $20 or so that represented my “walking around cash”.

Work was a tad less pleased with my calling them as late as I did that day but they didn’t really give me much of a hard time about it. I guess they decided that getting rolled in an alleyway was basis for a short term disability stint. I wound up having to fill out some forms but, all in all, it wasn’t as bothersome as I was initially thinking it would become.

I stayed out the rest of that week and rested up through the weekend. One of my friends arrived at my doorstep on Friday night with a pizza and a six-pack. I shared the pizza but opted not to partake of the beer. I thanked him and sent him on his way well before midnight.

The following Monday was “face the music” time and I strolled in with freshly pressed clothes and a forced smile on my face. I had the anticipated glut of emails to parse through and I read with interest what was transpiring as far as potential business opportunities. I was riddled to some extent with some guilt feelings and wanted to throw myself into some projects to make up for my “lost time” experience.

The first few days passed rather uneventfully and then the painful one-week anniversary took place that Thursday. There was the usual group of folks that were assembling for an “after work” meeting at the local pub. I had mixed feelings about joining them but in the end, found myself on that barstool again. I started very slowly and combined seltzer water with rounds of beer. I left after a quick burger and got home before 10:00 that evening. All in all, my experience was a somewhat respectable change in comparison to my habits of the last couple of months.

Through that week I could almost convince myself that I had things under control and that I was on the road to rebuilding my standing with the company and starting to adhere to a more conservative and healthy lifestyle.

Then I had a chance meeting with my old classmate, Cheryl.