9.16.2008

Early morning drinker

I sat watching a man in the airport terminal. Like myself, I assumed he was waiting for a flight. I noticed a small bottle of jack daniels in his hand, the cap removed, half the whiskey consumed. Although he had a newspaper in his lap, it was unopened. He stared into space, deep in thought. Slowly he turned the small cap around in his fingers. I found myself wondering what would drive a man to drink at the airport at 6:30 in the morning. What made me wonder further was the look on his face. The helpless blank stare that told me his mind was already hard at work. Maybe something had happened. Maybe something was about to happen. Maybe, just maybe, this man hated to fly and found a bit of comfort in that small bottle. Then a pinch, "stop staring," my travel companion said to me.  Later, after sitting down on the plane, I continued to think about that lonely man in the airport and his whiskey. I realized that I wasn't all that concerned with what was going on with him after all, I just wanted some whiskey.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

how long until you realized you were staring into a mirror?