smallhobbit | To Drink or Not To Drink (Reply)

Title: To Drink or Not To Drink
Fandom: Life on Mars
Rating: Green Cortina
Word Count: 1,040 approx
Written for the Sober Challenge on 1973FlashFic The usual thanks to my beta

jinxed100

When Sam woke up after a particularly disturbed night, having been visited by the test card girl on what he thought was three separate occasions, he vowed he would stop drinking. In 2006 he hadn’t drunk very often, sticking to diet cokes when out with colleagues, determined to set a good example. He had never had visitations from characters that belonged in his television set. So he reasoned that if he returned to his previous abstemious nature he would no longer be troubled at night by that small girl in the red dress.

Monday hadn’t been good day to start. It was Vince’s birthday, so they had all gone to The Railway Arms to celebrate. They had gone on celebrating, even after Vince had gone home, muttering that his wife would kill him if he didn’t eat the special dinner she had cooked him. By the time Sam left the pub he wasn’t sure quite how many pints he had drunk. He tried to add them up on his walk home, but felt that when he reached 72 he must have made a mistake somewhere. He collapsed into his bed, his good intentions forgotten and was rewarded by his friend sitting next to him and singing nursery rhymes into his ear.

Tuesday looked more promising to begin with. However, as the day progressed everything that could go wrong did go wrong. It wasn’t even as if anyone could be blamed and shouted at to relieve the tension; which meant that by the time Sam went home he was feeling totally frustrated. In an attempt to stay sober he had declined the suggestion of a pint at The Railway Arms, but unfortunately for him the way back to his flat was past an off licence. Without even thinking about it he turned into the shop, bought himself a bottle of cheap plonk and bore it back to his flat. Later that night he was woken by a very tearful little girl demanding that he give her back her clown. He realised with horror that he was cuddling her toy closely to his chest.

On Wednesday evening Sam and Annie went to see a film. Annie had expressed an interest in seeing “The Way We Were” and Sam realised it was one of those films he’d always intended to watch but never got round to seeing so they went together. It definitely wasn’t a date and they each paid for their own tickets. Which is why, when Sam bought Annie a drink afterwards, she insisted on buying him one in return, saying that they had agreed in advance to share the costs.

Sam had hoped to limit his alcohol intake for the day to one pint, but even having had two he wasn’t drunk and therefore had high hopes of having a peaceful night’s sleep. However his small flatmate was of a different opinion. She challenged him to a game of noughts and crosses and promised to leave him alone once he had won a game. It rapidly became clear to Sam that on the odd occasion when it looked as if he was going to win, she would rub out his mark and put it somewhere else. In the end Sam threw the piece of chalk across the room in total frustration, got into bed and tried to ignore the comments about him being a sore loser.

So on Thursday, when Gene asked him if he was coming to the pub, Sam said that he was going to finish the paperwork and then go home. He explained that he wasn’t sleeping well and that he thought that he would sleep better if he hadn’t had a drink. Gene looked at him in total confusion, but seeing how pale his DI was looking he agreed that an early night might do him some good.

Sam spent a quiet evening reading. He then had a bath and returned ready for the good night’s sleep he was convinced he deserved. As he came out of the bathroom he saw to his horror that the girl had brought companions for her clown and that she had set up a tea party on his bed. There were six places set. At one sat the clown, next to him was a teddy bear, which the girl informed him was called Gene, followed by a dog and finally a panda, which appeared to go by the name of Phyllis. The girl sat at the fifth place and indicated to Sam that he should join them. Sam looked at the party with an expression of total despair. He had been so good, he hadn’t drunk anything alcoholic and despite all his efforts he couldn’t even get into his own bed. He sat in the arm chair and pulled the rug over his head. He listened to the little girl telling the toys that if he was going to be such a cross patch they didn’t want him at their party anyway and he pretended he didn’t care.

Which meant that on Friday, when Gene offered him a glass of whisky to celebrate reaching the end of what had been a very trying week, Sam decided to accept. After all, it didn’t seem to make any difference whether he had had a drink or not, he wasn’t going to be allowed to sleep. It turned out that Gene’s missus was away for the weekend, so Gene suggested that they pick up some fish and chips and go back to his place where he had a malt whisky that he wanted Sam to try. Several glasses of whisky later, Sam was in no state to even to crawl back to his flat, so Gene suggested he might as well stay the night. Sam struggled up the stairs and collapsed on the first bed he could find. A couple of hours later he woke up with a start; he felt as if he was being held by a large teddy bear. Then he heard a voice he recognised, shushing him and telling him he’d just had a bad dream. He settled down again with his head on the chest of a bear that smelled strongly of whisky and slept peacefully until the morning.