Judge

I bear that man no ill will. There is no grudge. He simply does not understand my world, and I can deal with that. After all, he's sending me to the clinic when he could have sent me to jail. And maybe things will even be better from it. I was probably drinking a bit much, after all. But he didn't understand. It started with a stern, uncaring look. I tried to come clean, too. After all, I was caught disobeying the letter of the law and it didn't seem like there was any point in lying about it.

I tried to explain that to apply a law so uniformly made no sense. Those drunk driver laws were created to stop dangerous people. Drunk fathers, racing back home to beat their families. They can't drive like I drive. They drive their junk pickups down the road at terrifying speeds. I follow the speed limits. My car can reach 60 miles per hour in 5 seconds, but unlike those losers in their rust buckets, mine is well kept. It can stop on a dime, and I'm a racing driver, so I can react faster than some housewife escaping from her failed family. I'm just a guy trying to get to his appointments on time.

He didn't see it my way. If the car and its driver are so amazing, why are there pictures of it wrapped around a tree, the driver unconscious inside? Everybody makes mistakes. People coming home from their graveyard shifts fall asleep at the wheel. I just hit a tree, it was an honest mistake. But to him, it was all about the drinks. And of course the cop was insulting me the whole time.

We didn't understand each other, but at least I'm heading to a clinic instead of a cell. I can't say I'm angry at him, even though now I'm being labeled a drunk -- no, worse, a drunk driver.

Three Months
Well, you ordered me to show up in three months for a hearing, and I showed up. That's because I'm an honest guy who meets my appointments, not some drunk. I only spend one day a week at the clinic now, and I've stopped buying alcohol completely. It actually saves a surprising amount of money. You joked about helping fix your daughter's computer. I'll be glad to, judge. My going rate's $30/hour but for you I'm willing to do it at $40/hour.

And no, of course I'm not irritated that I can't have a license. It just makes my repair job a thousand times more difficult to keep going, nothing major. Now that I'm not spending all that money on alcohol, I'm able to make ends meet even without a license. I have almost as much extra cash as when I was "a dangerous alcoholic". It's wonderful.