ALCOHOL (Short Story by Smruti Choudhury)

“Do you know what alcohol does to your liver?” Mickey asked. 

“I know what it does to my mind…hic” giggled Minnie.

Mickey had no option but to drag a fighting, clawing Minnie to the bedroom and lock her in.

He quickly came back and hid the bottle of bourbon at the back of the kitchen counter.

It would be a matter of minutes before Minnie knocked the bedroom door down. When she was under the influence of alcohol, she got superhuman powers.

As Mickey was pouring out the dregs from the glass into the sink, Minnie crept up behind him and hit him with a frying pan, knocking Mickey unconscious. She then reached behind the kitchen counter to retrieve her bottle of bourbon. Mickey always hid the bottle there. “By now he should have found better hiding place” scoffed Minnie.

After a few quick pulls, Minnie glanced at the still frame of Mickey and realized that his breathing had slowed down. She fell to her knees and kept her head on Mickey’s chest to listen.

All she could hear was the loud ‘Thump Thump” in her head. A bit disoriented, she got up and gulped down two fingers of bourbon before she even reached the bedroom. Then Minnie passed out.

The next morning, Minnie woke up to the smell of frying bacon and eggs and smiled at the thought of breakfast. Her head still ached but her stomach was growling more. She walked out to the living room and stopped short at seeing everything changed.

“What happened here?” Minnie asked.

“I did some spring cleaning” answered Mickey, “Breakfast?”

Minnie sat down obediently and Mickey turned from the stove with the frying pan in his hand. He had a big scar running across his face from where Minnie had hit him last evening with a frying pan.

Minnie noticed that it was the same frying pan that Mickey was using for the bacon. She got a bad feeling about it and her stomach churned.Mickey raised the frying pan and just as he was swinging it over to Minnie’s face, she threw up.

It was the best projectile vomit that Mickey had ever seen and he ducked out of the way. The pan went flying across the dining table and crashed against the wall, splattering hot bacon grease over the polka dotted wallpaper. The oil stains disturbed the symmetry, forming new dots.

Mickey turned to look at Minnie who was alternating between giggling and throwing up.

“What’s so funny? Asked Mickey.

“You won’t understand” answered Minnie

“Try me”

“Don’t you see… it’s the alcohol which saved me from getting an ugly scar”

“Bite me!”