The Drunken Man

A story that I wrote to juxtapose God's wrath and mercy, it soon became more than that and I've begun to really enjoy this. I hope you all do as well.

The sun sets on a group of buildings and they all brighten with lights. This city at night is not a scene that helps men. Rather, it chews up its denizens and spits out their bones making them slobs that don’t care whether they live or die. Men come here every night and the eye of this place is instantly set upon them. They frolic under the neon lights, laughing gleefully and carelessly dancing in dimly lit caves while their wealth and dignity are swindled from them. The demons that manage this city of the damned are crafty and often smile at their victims with golden teeth to lull them into a false sense of security. The answer to an evil master and scoff at the idea of even knowing the One that is good. Furthermore, they misuse His good practices to further lead men away and tear their hearts and minds apart, convincing them to commit more and more infidelities so that they might line their own pockets.

                One lowly man, named Dan, got lost in this heartless land two years ago. So soon as he stepped off of his plane, the trap snapped up around his ankle and confined him in his pitiful cell. He can now be found wandering these streets with a bottle in his hand begging for more money to buy more alcohol. Several months ago, he had got it into his head to sober up and get a job so he had bought a clean, white dress shirt which was now yellowed with sweat and wreaked of urine. His brown leather trench coat, he once prized because he thought it made him so attractive, hung from his shoulders in tatters. His face, which had once wooed women, is a road map of pain and suffering of night after night of binge drinking.

                This man walked up to Jack’s Liquor Store this evening, squinting because the bright red letters shone brightly in his weary face and peered inside the window, which was the entire front face of the building, to see if the owner was there. Seeing he was, Dan stumbled in and picked out his favorite brand of whiskey and brought it to the front counter. It had taken him more than a week to beg enough money in order to get this particular booze and his mouth was watering at the thought of the many hours he would spend savoring it. The man behind the counter looked at the grizzled veteran of the drink and said, “No.” Dan didn’t comprehend this one syllable block to what was supposed to be his night of wonder and could only manage a quizzical look into this man’s eyes.

                “I said no, Dan. I can’t serve you out of good conscience. You don’t do anything with your life except get drunk and beg. You’ll be back begging tomorrow and be back here on Friday, buying another bottle. Don’t you want to make something of your life?” As he finished, the register man took the bottle off the counter and placed it out of sight below the register.

                Dan’s brow furrowed and he frowned under his unkempt beard. “How dare you,” he mumbled, “how dare you deny me such a basic human right? If I want to live this way then that is my damn choice you self-righteous piss ant!” His voice started low and grew louder with each syllable until he shouted the final word, spraying saliva in the man’s face. He continued his rant in a softer tone, “Jack, come on, it’s your job to serve me. I’m a loyal customer who always pays what’s due, think about the business that you would lose.”

                Jack frowned and lowered his chin, keeping his eyes level with the man. “It isn’t a question of business at all; I’ll get along fine with or without you. You would be close to a thousand times better without me. As far as my duty goes, it isn’t to help a drunk go further down than he already is.” He brought a magnum from below the counter and said, “Now I suggest you leave my store.”

                Dan walked out of the store yelling statements such as ‘How dare you!’ ‘my rights!’ and various other profanities. Before he was too far away, he got the idea that he should cause the man as much pain as he could, at least equal to the pain that he had caused Dan. He stalked back and picked up a weighty stone up off the street. He then chucked it at the front of Jack’s store which hit with a thud and bounced off the window. It didn’t do much but leave a slight knick in the window since Jack, being the owner of a liquor store which are more suspect to burglaries, had replaced the glass with a thin sort of plastic years ago. Dan saw Jack whip out his gun and make for the front door of the store so he hastily made the decision to run from death. He heard several shots ring out behind him which compelled him to run for several miles. Ducking and weaving through side streets he knew so well, finally ducking into a park filled with trees hoping that it would lose his pursuer once and for all. When he did stop, he found himself standing next to a fountain with several benches standing around it.

                He sat down on the edge of the fountain, the cold marble made him shiver. He began to reflect on days gone by and how he got into his miserable condition, this made him long for a drink. He thought about walking to another liquor store but he couldn’t think of one that hadn’t refused him service. He chose, instead, to stare at the fountain which was a beautiful fount indeed, although he didn’t see its splendor. At the center of the marble ring was an obelisk lit by many lights at the periphery of the ring strategically placed so to brighten the many etchings on it. These depicted Adam and Eve, Moses parting the Red Sea, David facing down Goliath and other such instances. At the top of the obelisk was a cross.

                Dan laughed aloud when he saw the cross, “Like that phooey ever did anybody any good,” he murmured to himself. He sat and looked into the waters, trying to see if any well-wishers had thrown any coins into the fountain but after a while he decided to move to one of the benches, since it seemed like Jack had given up his pursuit. The moment he stood completely upright he became dizzy and light-headed. He tried to steady himself on the ring of marble around the fountain but fell upon his hands and knees instead for the fountain had disappeared, in fact, everything had. He was in complete darkness.

                He heard a voice, booming and powerful, that frightened Dan to his very core, “What are you doing?” it demanded. The man did nothing but stay on his hands and knees hoping that he was in the middle of a dream.  “I will not leave you yet, Dan. Stop hoping in vain and answer my simple question. What are you doing with your life?”

                Dan said simply, “I do what I will. My life is enjoyable and simple and . . . I’m happy. Not something I should explain to a figment of "“

                “I am no figment! Many foolish men have thought me to be a figment and they were killed by my wrath! Just as I tortured the King of Egypt with my plagues, should you like me to do the same to you?” These words were shouted angrily. Dan looked up and saw a pillar of flames before him, so close that the fire nearly lapped at his face.

                “No, no. Please, no.”

                “Then you have some sense.” The voice softened and the fire receded slightly. “As for your state of happiness, I have much doubt. I have seen into your consciousness and I have seen more guilt and regret than can be good for the happiness of one man. Do you not see that you are running from the precious life that I have graciously bestowed upon you?”

                Dan’s heart grew hard at this respite, “I live this good life as I see fit, it is my only right.”

                The flame brightened and enlarged before Dan’s eyes and He said, “And who gave you this right? Was it some government of man? Who am I in comparison to such a fleeting establishment? I created the very ground it stands on and the minds that constructed it. You have no such right, the only lot in life you have now is the punishment your sins have given you. You have wrecked lives in this world and have served only to further the deeds of Satan. Look into me and see the crimes you have committed against Me and your brothers and sisters.”

                Dan looked into the flames and saw thousands of memories of his life flash through the flickering lips of fire. Most notably, he saw three events that stuck into his mind. He saw his attempt to avoid the army, he remembered how the decision had plagued his mind and how he had decided to dodge the recruiters like the plague. He saw a young girl take his place, fine and beautiful, go through basic training. He saw her tears when she learned that she couldn’t have children anymore because of the training, he saw her march off to battle and he saw her shot trying to protect a group of Afghan children. “Had I gone in her place, I would had protected her from this terrible fate.”

                “Yes,” the voice agreed. He then showed Dan his college and the many infidelities he had committed with so many young women, right in the prime of their life. He saw their bellies grow as they desperately tried to find him to be a father to their child. There were many such instances, some of which kept their children choosing to live hard lives for the sake of the children while others opted for murder. He saw all of this too, the tool entering the women and coming out bloody, clutching what was once life.

                “Oh, God,” he muttered trying to keep the tears back. “I did that to them, I forced them through that experience.”

               "So much loss of young life before they even get a chance to object." He showed the poor man what his absence from his own life has done. His wife left him and his boy hated him, this much he knew but he was shown much more pain and suffering than even he has gone through. The many sleepless nights his wife trying to make enough to get by, the mistakes is son made that were so similar to Dan’s own, and the endless cycle of father’s leaving children.

                The flame grew so close to the man’s face that he screamed, “Forgive me!” and threw his face to the ground.

                When the voice spoke next Dan was not afraid of it but instead took strength in His kind tone, “And what my son, are you asking forgiveness for?”

                Dan looked up with tears streaming down his face and saw that flaming pillar had changed to a brilliant, white beam of light. “Everything,” Dan uttered. “I have not known You throughout my life and have wasted it on the frivolities of this world. Show me how I might know this refreshing light!”

                The voice paused, “You must live a life to please Me and not yourself, a life devoted to kindness to others even when that means disciplining and being disciplined by hard words, a life of love.”

                “How?”

                “Walk west, find a man who stands for Me and he will teach you the path of the righteous. At the end of your life, you will come back to Me.”

                “What if I should lose heart? The way is far and I have little diligence.”

                “Have faith that I will be with you and that I will guide you through your life.” The pillar moved through the man which caused his heart to skip a beat, and then Dan opened his eyes, got up and walked west.  He wasn’t sure how far he would continue but one foot faithfully fell in front of the other. He stopped briefly to buy food and water with what little money he had, thanked the clerk, and then walked to the edge of the city. There, he looked back into the chaos from which he emerged. This eater of men, hell for the living, and, for a second, considered running back in to find another bottle. A spark lit in Dan’s eyes and in his heart, then he spun on his heels and walked into the desert.

It was several days before he reached a glimmer of civilization and it came to him as a little house next to a farm on the edge of the desert. He rejoiced and that the One that is good since he had eaten the last of his food the day before. He felt his weariness and exhaustion hit him as he drew closer and closer to the door. He drew strength from the Lord and crawled up to the door and weakly tapped on the door. As he passed out, he saw a big, burly man open the door and pick him up.