It was Jackson’s 11 year sobriety birthday and he was feeling fine driving home from the AA hall. Life was finally starting to smooth out. Jackson had a good job at the plant, a fine woman for girlfriend, and had regained a relationship with his family, and most importantly the stormy waters of his mind had smoothed a little. And to make things even better this year he had finally quit smoking! It was a battle but he did it, with God’s help of course. He was fond of telling people that God was finally doing for him what he could not do for himself. After a warm bath complete with bath salts, he was all ready to lay it down in for the night.
His feeling of fineness was interrupted when he heard the neighbors yelling as he was settling into bed. This was getting to be a common occurrence. Jackson had bought the house a 5 years ago (another gift of sobriety), and it was a strange twist of fate that one of his old running buddies Rob, and his fiancé Linda were living with Rob’s grandfather Ronny next-door. Jackson had gotten sober but Rob never had, he had only gotten worse over the years, hit the skids, and had to move in with his grandfather Ronny. By that point neither Rob nor Linda had worked a steady job for some time. Rob said he had severe back problems that kept him from working, so instead stayed high on pain pills and booze, but got a little disability check each month. He went to a doctor that helped him with the process of filing for disability, and the two had developed a close working relationship over the years. Rob would spend most of his money on Hydrocodone and Dilaudid at the doctor’s office, and when he was running short he could get by on credit till the first of the month, or he could “borrow” some from his grandfather. Linda could not get along with anyone so she tended to get fired within a few months of starting a job so had no references or work history to speak of at 35. She also had a felony conviction for intent to distribute Zanex which made it hard to even get her foot in the door. She also had diabetes and complained about her knees hurting if she stood for more than an hour at a time. She was severely overweight.
Often Jackson would pull up from work and Rob and his blushing bride to be would be hanging out on the porch or the yard drinking beer and listening to music. They would invite him over to hang out and drink with them but he would always decline. He finally told Rob that he had cleaned up his act, and was sober, and didn’t drink beer anymore. Sometimes they would get to talking about the shape of Rob’s life and Jackson often asked him to come to meetings. It was becoming more and more apparent to Jackson that Rob’s life was spiraling out of control. Sometimes he would see Ronny outside yelling at Rob or Linda. The yard had become trashed since he moved in. The old man seemed very clean but it looked like his property was turning into a white trash heaven. Rob’s old pickup was parked in the yard, and had an oil leak. Rob was constantly working on this or that, constantly with plan of getting it on the road and doing some traveling etc..,
Jackson liked Ronny, he seemed a solid hard working type and reminded Jackson of his own father. He had talked with the old man and over the years and gleaned something of his past. He was born so poor that at least one of his siblings had died of what sounded like malnutrition or lack of proper care shortly after birth. The baby had been “birthed unnaturally by some no good witch doctor that didn’t know shit about medicine” at their 3 roomed house. The bank repossessed the farm and the family had to move west shortly after it's death. Ronny signed up for the military right after Perl Harbor and had to get special permission from his parents and the constable because he was only 16. He didn’t see any action but was sent to Hawaii and worked as a cook. He said it was the best thing could have happened to him. He got an education and learned a trade. Upon returning he got married to his high-school sweet heart, and got a job as a cook at the Local High School cafeteria. In time he worked his way up into an administration position with the school board overseeing the purchase and transportation of large amounts of food for all the schools in the district. He retired at 65 with full VA benefits and a nice retirement package from the state. His wife had died shortly thereafter and it was a blow because he wanted to spend his “golden years” with her. He had worked so hard, and seen her much less than he had wanted too. He had missed a lot of time with the family because he had to work, and a man had to work.
He was of the opinion that everyone could make it in America, given a little hard work and a little character and a little discipline. His brother had been a drunk and a bum who rode the rails, and by god he swore that he would never disapoint his mother the way his brother had. Sometimes people want to be bums and that was that. He had sent his only son to a good collage and wanted the boy to be something better than his father, the boy was smart as a whip, but he had the same problem as his uncle, and drank too much, and now he is a bum too, and never called.
For Ronny drinking and the bumming that went with it was a moral problem. Ronny’s only son was a heavy drinker, had finished college and then moved to California. It had been four years since anyone in the family had heard from him. He winced a little when he talked about his son and it was apparent to Jackson that Ronny was very hurt about the situation. Ronny's sweet daughter lived in Michigan and had a good job with a large internet security firm and is married to an ex Navy man, a good hard working man, thank god.
“See” Ronny would say, “you did it, you straightened up, so can my son and grandson, so can any man, he just has to pull his head out of his ass and work hard. This is America. Anyone can make it. I did it, you did it, anyone can do it. The only people who can’t make it in this country are the lazy and the degenerate. Simple as that…”
Jackson knew a little more about alcoholism, or at any rate had a different take on the problem, and tried to tell Ronny that is was not as easy as a problem of simple self-control, or moral degeneration, that it was a disease, both physical and spiritual, and that once it gets ahold of you it takes more than a simple “decision” to break loose. He tried to tell Ronny that Rob was very sick, and that he would have to get sober before he could get and keep a job, and that would take some help, the help of others. Kicking him out might not be a gbad idea, but he had to treat him with the care one would treat a sick person, and not try and shame him. He feels enough shame as it is.
“Bullshit” Ronny would say. “I’m about to kick that no good lazy bastard out, just like I did his dirty hippy dad. I'm not gonna be made a fool twice. I supported his dad for years and all the sudden he just quits calling. He just threw me to the trash heap when he don’t need money. Me and Martha never raised him to be that selfish. Look at his sister, she’s an angel, we raied those kids right. And I damn near raised Rob too cause his no good dad was off doing whatever. Am I supposed to just carry him the rest of his life? I tried to send him to school and he stayed loaded and dropped out his first semester. I can’t get him to work, or anything. He is lazy and disrespectful, and that nasty pig of his is eating me out of house and home.”
Jackson would nod and just tell him to pray about it.
To be cont….
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