A Burdened Child

    I don’t know what to do. How can I tell him? How can I tell my own father that he’s an alcoholic? Will he understand? Will he hit me? The problem is that someone has got to tell him. Mom can’t do it. She just doesn’t care. It’s not that she’s an alcoholic, but she has her own problems that I can’t even begin to try to help her with. My brother Web can’t tell him. He’s only nine, and how could he understand at such a young age? Is there anyone else who could tell him? It just has got to be done. He gets drunk every night, every day, even at work! He’ll surely get fired soon. He a surveyor! He gets drunk on the job, and he’s a goddamned surveyor! For one thing, surveying is a dangerous job as it is. Second off, they’re not going to keep paying a drunk. What’ll happen if he gets fired? Mom’s only a teacher at a public school, which isn’t going to earn her enough money to support herself, her two kids, and an unemployed drunken husband. How can I just sit there and watch my nine year old brother grow up with his father getting so drunk every night that he can’t even drag his sorry ass to bed? More than once Web has walked in as I walked my dad to bed. What kind of influence will it have on him? When he gets into high school, will he be able to keep up with his homework? I’m going to college next year, and then it’ll be Web who has to help my dad into bed and take care of him. I’ve had to leave so many homework assignments to the last minute to help my dad that I don’t even know how I was given the miracle of getting into college. Will Web be as lucky as me if he has got to deal with dad throughout his youth? Anyway, that’s no way for a kid to grow up. Childhood is possibly the most important part in your life, and it’s a crime to have a childhood wasted because your father can’t just have one glass of scotch without having ten more. But maybe I can’t tell dad. Maybe it’s just out of my hands for now. I realize it’s not my job to control everyone’s life, but if I don’t deal with this, then who will? I guess it’s Web who I’m primarily concerned about. I’m leaving for school in five months, and mom can fend for herself, but if dad goes on like this, Web’s going to be screwed up. It’s a horrible environment to grow up in. Does that mean I should call social services and ask them to let Web live with our grandparents or something? Can they even legally do that? But if I did, would my parents hate me? Would they just shut me out of their lives forever? I love them, but I need to help Web while he can still be helped. Even if dad went to Alcoholics Anonymous, would it help? I know something has to be done, but what can I do?