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Booze Man

Yesterday I was on the N train and I saw a guy carrying a black plastic bag full of bottles. He was old and bummish looking. He had lots of wrinkles and I think his left eye was blind. His hands looked swollen and cracked. There must’ve been three or four bottles in that bag from the way they clanked against each other.

There were a whole bunch of kids in the car too. They were all laughing and talking to each other. The old bum guy took out a bottle of malt liquor from the bag (it must’ve been about 40 oz.) and proceeded to down it right there on the train. One of the kids saw him and said “Aww man, Chugg-a-lugg.” and the rest of the kids joined in “Chugg-a-lugg chugg-a-lugg chugg-a-lugg.”

The guy *only* finished half the bottle and all the kids went “awww” The guy smiled and mumbled something about it being his birthday. He finished off the rest of that bottle and pulled out another. A shout went through the train car. This time everyone started yelling “Chugg-a-lugg chugg-a-lugg chugg-a-lugg.” This time the guy finished the whole bottle and let out a little burp. Everybody cheered.

I couldn’t help but laugh while everybody was cheering for this guy. It was so ridiculous. But at the same time I felt sick because it was wrong. Booze isn’t cheap. And this guy obviously needed more than booze.

It’s like a freak show after 12:00 sometimes– simultaneously revolting and intreaguing. Just be careful, find out what people really need, and find a way to give it to them because it’s obviously not booze and it’s obviously not entertainment, though some find both easily.