Drinking too much by George Gad Economou

“why do you drink so much?” Christine

asked when she came home after a night-out on town

with her friends and found me lying on

the couch, cuddling a half-empty fifth of

Four Roses. “I haven’t drunk that much,” I protested, my gaze

glued on the glowing TV-screen and the CZW bloodbath match.

“there’s an empty bottle on the floor, and several cans of beer.”

“I’m watching wrestling, I need to maintain the glow of libation.”

“that’s bullshit.”

“fine.” with a groan of exasperation, I paused the show and sat up. “I

drink to forget and to remember; I drink to feel alive; I drink to get

drunk; I drink for I constantly yearn for elation of the soul and ecstasy of

the mind. when drunk, I’m at my

best; I think the best thoughts, I write the best poems I can, I make

the best love, I trod between the fine line of life and death with the balance of

an Olympic gymnast.”

“you’re drunk,” was her plain comment to my fantastical rebuttal and went to

the bathroom.

“that, I am,” I concurred and laid back; took a healthy gulp out

of the bottle and resumed the show. she came out of

the bathroom, rolled her eyes, then laid down next to

me, throwing both her arm and leg around me. I drank, kissed her

on the forehead, and watched the rest of

the show while slept with her head resting on

my shoulder. perhaps, if I hadn’t drunk so much, she’d still

be around; on the other hand, if I didn’t drink, she’d never

have fallen in love with me in the first place.

Currently residing in Greece, George Gad Economou has a Master’s degree in Philosophy of Science and is the author of Letters to S. (Storylandia), Bourbon Bottles and Broken Beds (Adelaide Books), and Of the Riverside (Anxiety Press). His words have also appeared, amongst other places, in Spillwords Press, Ariel Chart, Cajun Mutt Press, Fixator Press, Outcast Press, The Piker Press, The Edge of Humanity Magazine, The Rye Whiskey Review, and Modern Drunkard Magazine.