Write the word Alcohol and set the time for 10-15 minutes. Just write.
The buzz of voices around her pushed Sandra into a trance. All the better. Her fingers gripped around the steering wheel, her eyes peered out from behind her sun glasses. This shouldn’t be hard anymore, but today her entire body feels a bit cold. It’s possible her blood sugar levels are dropping. There come the cold sweat along her hair line. Definitely blood sugar levels.
She shouldn’t have had that extra glass of wine but Kathy had raised her eyebrows like overly judgmental religious not job. Just like her sister. The challenge had been obvious to anyone: Can you drink another and still pull off this sale? Well there you have it, Kathy. Sale done.
Sandra hit the steering wheel in glee, stunning the voices behind her into silence.
“No worries. No Worries, ” she said, her mouth dry and full of cotton. “I was just celebrating. Hand me that bottle of water, will you?”
At bottom of the hill the light was turning red. She stepped on the brake a little too hard, but better to stop then to run into the next car. But thinking of what to be grateful for doesn’t come to Trevor, the eleven year old.
“Hey! Geez, mom. Learn to drive.”
Sandra sets her jaw, then remembers the bottle of water. The light will only be red for so long. Gripping the bottle is harder than she thought. the cap is slippery for some reason and refuses to budge.
“Damn, stupid water bottle!”
Her ears are ringing, so she probably isn’t hearing well. Her own voice just then sounded hysterically high pitched, but again, her ears are ringing. The oldest boy, Sam, yanks the bottle from her hands, twists off the cap and shoves the open bottle so hard back to her that water splashes over.
The light turns green but Sandra doesn’t see it. She’s busy brushing water droplets off of her $300 skirt.
“Damn it, Sam. Why’d you do that?”
“What? open the bottle for you? The lights green.”
Sandra guns the accelerator, scaring herself as the car wobbles for a second, swaying out to the left before righting itself into the center. She grips the wheel with every cell in her left hand, tips the water bottle up with her right and watched the road from the corner of her eyes. Like a pro.
She shouldn’t have had the next glass after the glass she drank in answer to Kelly’s challenge. But once Kelly left Sandra though it was only right to not only celebrate the sale but celebrate Kelly not being next to her. Besides, that time she drank a coffee with a shot of whiskey. To keep her going through the paperwork and celebrate.
Her mouth started watering at the memory of the whiskey and coffee. She doesn’t have an espresso maker at home, but she had good coffee and good whiskey. And she’ll deserve it by the time she gets these buggers home.
Sam has turned up the radio to a blasting level. Zach is screeching to turn it down. Only a few more streets until they’re home. And are they going to get it. They’ll be grounded for the rest of their lives, if she had anything to do with it.
A car swerves slightly, scaring her into over correcting. Zach yells.
“Shut up, Zach! Nothing happened and you screeching scared the shit out of me! I’m trying to drive and I don’t need you acting like a moron when I have other drivers acting like morons.”
“You went into his lane, mom,” Sam says. His voice is gravelly, like he isn’t moving his whole mouth to speak.
“Shut up, Sam. The sun got in my eyes.”
Sandra braced herself to check her blind spot, but didn’t notice her hands were turning at the same time as her neck.
“Mom!”
“Stop!”
She shouldn’t have had that last one. But it was too late.