For I Had Known Her

                                                        For I Had Known Her





    The snow gets deep in these parts.  Many times during the winter, one would scarcely leave the warm and inviting comfort of his own home.  As luck, or fate would have it, this would not be one of those times, for I had failed; due to the excess of my drink, to prepare myself for this most recent cold snap.  I had in my cupboards but two out dated cans of soup and a half package of very stale crackers.  A determined man would eat for two days on these, an alcoholic, a week.  My being an alcoholic, the lack of food wasn’t perceived as a pressing problem.  The problem was I had no booze! 

    Thankfully, as with every problem, there is a solution.  Not always a simple one, and, in my particular case, mostly void of reason.  My solution, brave the weather and go to the liquor store. 

    I slammed the car door quickly as I got in.  Three tries and the battery was completely dead.  The urge to drink was strong; I decided to take the walk. 

    I had just started down the narrow street when a gust of northern wind hit me. I should take the short cut through the alleys; it is much too cold for the long walk.

    I darted across the street; there was no traffic to dodge, and slipped quickly into the alley behind the local Chinese restaurant.  The smell was inviting, but not the sustenance for which I craved.  I trekked on.

    It began to get dark and I began to wonder if I should return home.  I had a bottle of mouthwash in my bathroom that I knew would take the edge off.  Wrestling with some strong emotions, I decided to go on.  Anyway, I have the displeasure of knowing that although mouth wash tastes great, drinking it does leave one with a terrible case of indigestion.  I longed for better booze.

    A little more than halfway through my journey, I began, again, as many alcoholics do, to feel the need for drink.  My body began to tremble uncontrollably.  The sweat, even in this weather, was profuse.  I decided to seek shelter in a little nook, behind some dumpsters until this horrible feeling subsided.  I had been here on numerous occasions.  It can be very warm, considering.

    So I sat, waiting for the pain of the cramps and the uncontrollable shaking to cease.  They did; they always do.

    I was not at all prepared for the event that followed.  As I made my exit from behind the dumpsters, a woman; a homeless woman I had once known, collapsed in the snow at my feet.  She made no sound, but I could discern from the blood and liquid coming from her that she was having a baby.  Now!

    I pulled her back behind the dumpster where it was warmer and made a quick attempt to assess the severity of her situation.  It was grave.  There was so much blood and she was so pale.  There was literally going to be no time to seek help, except for a quick little prayer to the Almighty. 

    I drew solely upon instinct, for I had absolutely no medical training, and honestly, had rarely even used a band aid.

    The delivery was a success and the infant was presented to his mother, not in fine linens, but swaddled in the finest edition of our city"s evening post.  One fleeting glimpse at the wonder that God had given and the mother was gone. 

    I notified the authorities and was eventually allowed to take my son home.  My son, for I had known her...intimately.

       





                                                                The End