24 March

DRUNK TRIPTYCH

2000, USA
Two men with the same name, from the same city in Eastern Europe where they were professionals in the same field, living now in the same city in the United States, have a problem. The first calls the second only when he’s drunk and the second doesn’t like it.

2002, Russia
On the second day of Marina’s wedding, after two hours of trying to persuade me, her relatives finally persisted just a second longer than I did. I took a tiny sip of vodka na posashok, which translates something like “for the walking stick,” an early, less lethal equivalent of “for the road.” Do dna, the guys chorused, “bottoms up.” I summoned the most devastating twinkle in my eye and replied in English, “Don’t push your luck.”

2009, Poland
I ended up sitting across the aisle from a drunk on the train. Benevolent enough, but the slurred speech and forced merriment were unsettling, as was my empathy for the boy traveling with him. You can get used to just about anything, I suppose, but that’s not necessarily a good thing. I may have imagined the sweet, stale, nauseating smell, but it was getting stronger as the train approached my station, and I was ever so glad to disembark.