I grew up in a country club (Waccabuc) and formed a picture of imbibing that divided alcoholics into two parties: those who could handle it and those who couldn't. George was a member who handled drinking well. One story is that, as he readied for a trip to that night's Broadway performance, he talked the bartender into making the World'…
I grew up in a country club (Waccabuc) and formed a picture of imbibing that divided alcoholics into two parties: those who could handle it and those who couldn't. George was a member who handled drinking well. One story is that, as he readied for a trip to that night's Broadway performance, he talked the bartender into making the World's Biggest Martini. The obliging bartender provided him a brandy snifter replete with its martini, which George enjoyed as his driver drove him south. Then there was Bill, a frequent dishwasher, as I heard a former concert violinist who hadn't recovered from his wife's death. He was one who couldn't handle it. He was "frequent" because, like many dishwashers, his penchant was doing an excellent job, working hard all week, then taking his paycheck on Tuesday; then he would disappear for a week or two until he had drunk it all up, make his way to the employment office, and start again. Sometimes he did stay sober for weeks and months at a time, but the last we heard of him was when they fished his body out of the East River late one winter.
I grew up in a country club (Waccabuc) and formed a picture of imbibing that divided alcoholics into two parties: those who could handle it and those who couldn't. George was a member who handled drinking well. One story is that, as he readied for a trip to that night's Broadway performance, he talked the bartender into making the World's Biggest Martini. The obliging bartender provided him a brandy snifter replete with its martini, which George enjoyed as his driver drove him south. Then there was Bill, a frequent dishwasher, as I heard a former concert violinist who hadn't recovered from his wife's death. He was one who couldn't handle it. He was "frequent" because, like many dishwashers, his penchant was doing an excellent job, working hard all week, then taking his paycheck on Tuesday; then he would disappear for a week or two until he had drunk it all up, make his way to the employment office, and start again. Sometimes he did stay sober for weeks and months at a time, but the last we heard of him was when they fished his body out of the East River late one winter.