HEY, I hollered cross the
room to her,
DRINK SOME WINE OUT OF
YOUR SHOE!

WHY? she
screamed.

BECAUSE THIS USELESSNESS
NEEDS SOME
GAMBLE!
I yelled
back.

HEY, the guy in the next
apartment beat on the
wall. I’VE GOT TO GET UP
IN THE MORNING AND GO
TO WORK SO FOR CHRIST’S 
SAKE, SHUT
UP!

he damn near broke the wall
down and had a most
powerful
voice.

I walked over to
her, said, listen, let’s 
be quiet, he’s got some
rights.

FUCK YOU, YOU ASSHOLE!
she screamed 
at me.

the guy began pounding
on the wall
again.

she was right and he was
right.

I walked the bottle over
to the window and
looked out into the
night.

then I had a good roaring
drink
and I thought, we are all
doomed
together, that’s all there is
to
it. (that’s all there was
to that particular drink, just
like all the
others.)

then I walked
back to her and
she was asleep in
her 
chair.

I carried her to
the bed
turned out the
lights
then sat in the
chair by the
window
sucking at the
bottle, thinking,
well, I’ve gotten
this far
and that’s 
plenty.

and now
she’s sleeping
and 
maybe
he can
too.