# Paddy



## Briar Patch (Feb 1, 2010)

Paddy staggered home very late after another evening with his drinking
pals. He took off his shoes to avoid waking his wife, Kathleen.

He tiptoed as quietly as he could toward the stairs leading to their
upstairs bedroom, but misjudged the bottom step. As he caught himself
by grabbing the bannister, his body swung around and he landed heavily
on his rump. A whiskey bottle in each back pocket broke and made the
landing especially painful.

Managing not to yell, Paddy sprung up, pulled down his pants, and
looked in the hall mirror to see that his butt cheeks were cut and
bleeding. He managed to quietly find a full box of Band-Aids and began
putting a Band-Aid as best he could on each place he saw blood. He
then hid the now almost empty Band-Aid box and shuffled and stumbled
his way to bed.

In the morning, Paddy woke up with searing pain in both his head and
butt and Kathleen staring at him from across the room.

She said, 'You were drunk again last night weren't you?'

Paddy said, 'Why would you say such a mean thing?'

'Well,' Kathleen said, 'it could be the open front door, it could be
the broken glass at the bottom of the stairs, it could be the drops of
blood trailing through the house, it could be your bloodshot eyes, but
mostly .....


... it's all those Band-Aids stuck on the hall mirror.


----------

