I noticed the timeline issue myself. It would fall apart under cross-examination😎 This was years ago and sometimes the details are a little cloudy. What time did we leave the bar? Did I leave her room right away, or did I stay a little longer? I wasn't paying close attention to the time. It seemed late when we left the tavern.
Rather than try to guess, I'm going to edit out the times before I publish. I know I went to the tavern straight from work. Quitting time was 4 pm. I was on my first, maybe second draft when Cindy arrived. I was sipping slowly. I would have left after draft number two had Cindy not arrived. I won't try to guess what time we left. It was probably later than 11 pm. It was before last call at 1 am Exact times are not important and not well remembered, so better left out.
The good-natured curmudgeon thanks you for pointing out that discrepancy.
The distances are accurate. I still live in the same town. I am familiar with all of the locations. No memory or guessing is necessary.
As far as the amount of alcohol, this line was supposed to cover that:
"We drank and we talked for a while longer."
I might need to add some clarifying details before I publish. After I bought a round of drinks, Cindy started buying her own drafts. I had a couple more beers, but she was putting them away faster than I was. When she took the swigs of whiskey, she took several gulps.
Cindy's place was in the same direction as my house. It reduced the distance I had to walk to get home.
She may have been worming free drinks earlier in the evening, but altogether she didn't seem like the worming type. In all the time I knew her, she never asked me for anything. Occasionally, I would supply some beer when we went on an outing, but that wasn't often.
The public assistance office ultimately realized that she didn't function well working with others. They placed her in a daily therapy program. It was mainly occupational therapy, with a small, inadequate amount of professional psychiatric therapy. Cindy was not interested in receiving therapy. She cooperated as necessary to continue receiving public assistance.
At one point, Cindy did end up in a psychiatric hospital for a couple of nights, confirming my first impression of her mental condition. She later told me that it was not the first time. I was able to help her solve a problem that sometimes triggered a breakdown. That will be explained as the story proceeds.
Transitional? I don't know if you could call it that or not based on how things turned out. That will become clearer in the next two stories. I am still working on them. They are more complicated to tell. I will alert you when they are finished. Your commentary is valuable. Thanks!
