steiner

I have no intention of leaving. I walk around our apartment, continuing as a reporter, looking for evidence. Not evidence of alcohol — that would be easy. If I moved this chair I'd find seven or eight cat-batted bottle caps. There's probably a stray bottle or two under her drawing table. So what? I want evidence of something else, proof of why I stay. Her jacket's tossed on a chair and one of the cats is curled up on it. I lean in and smell the jacket, and the cat's warm fur. The phone number of our favorite pizza place is stuck on the refrigerator, along with the first card she gave me: a picture of a map. Written inside: Let's go everywhere. (258)

Steiner, Donna. "Sleeping with Alcohol." On Writing: A Process Reader. Ed. Wendy Bishop. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2004. 256-259.