Self-Employed Alcoholic

When i would hear my father talk about his life or alcoholism, i got a sense of how he felt about what he'd gone through and how he'd come out on the other side, especially as an observer of his conversations
with his friends. Dad never said things like: that's something i'm proud of or i'm proud of the fact that i....so you had listen for it.

Based on what i heard, i believe dad felt he'd kicked the crap out of alcoholism despite having relapsed twice in the 70's, or maybe because of having gone through that.

The first time i saw him drunk he had been sleeping in the shop, so i don't know how long he'd been drinking. I was about 14, and mom just said to me: you'd better go to work because your father has decided to opened up the shop and he hasn't stopped drinking yet. I got there and his good friend, Mario, was there, i found out later that mom had also asked him to go keep an eye on dad. I was at the point then where i didn't need to be given instructions to do repair work, i just got to work. Dad stood at his work table looking like he was working, i have no idea what he was doing, and he never said a word to me.  I still remember the wierd smile he gave me when i came in, and then i seemed to become invisible to him.

Someone did report dad to the police, i believe it was officer Brumolow who showed up to investigate; dad just gave him the same goofy smile. Both dad and Mario knew him well, and Mario spoke to the officer; i don't know what was said, but Mario assured him that he would take care of the situation and the officer left. I don't remember how much longer they stayed, but Mario eventually took him home after promising to drive dad on a beer run; i think he drank beer to bring himself down slowly.

The second time, as i've said, he drank, at least, three days; during that time, the police picked him up, but not driving. Early one morning, the phone rang, it was father; mom spoke to him for a minute and then said to me: i need you to drive me to Wichita Falls to bail out your dad, mom never drove. So, we get there and ask for Elias Dominguez and there is no one by that name; are you sure he got picked up here, where do y'all live? I translated for mom and she shrugs, i'm not sure. So, the officer makes a call and tells us: yeah, they got 'em over in Burk.

When we got back to the car she laughs and says: yeah, that makes more sense. I didn't ask. When we got back to Burk she told me to just drop her off in front of the police station, we lived two blocks away,
they walked home.