DRINK TO ME ONLY WITH THINE EYES

In the words of Ogden Nash, "Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker." And more lethal, I might add. This is a tale that has a happy ending despite a rocky beginning. 02/26/2016

DRINK TO ME ONLY WITH THINE EYES

I began drinking beer while a freshman in college, but had no tolerance for whiskey, which always made me ill. I rarely drank any alcohol while serving in the army. It did not appeal to me. Despite my normal state of sobriety, on one occasion, while home on furlough in early 1946, I aided and abetted a crime, getting a young Hoboken girl, Myra Butler, stinking drunk.

We had dated a few times while in high school. Her parents and her aunt, who worked at my high school, approved of me. They had no tolerance for Ray ‘Kayo’ Brennan whom Myra adored. As a ruse, Myra sometimes asked me to take her to the movies. After leaving her apartment with me, she would run off with Kayo.          

On this occasion, Myra asked me to bring a bottle of whiskey to the apartment of another girl, these two planning to help me “live it up” in celebration of my being an army man home on leave. Noblesse oblige. Myra drank to excess and passed out. I fled in panic, fully expecting her family to have me tarred and feathered once they discovered the source of the hooch. Fortunately, Kayo happened to be on duty with the Navy, and did not catch wise. I left for Langley Air Force Base before any repercussions came my way, thank goodness.

Myra recovered. A few years later, despite parental disapproval, she and Kayo became husband and wife. They lived happily (and soberly) ever after. Ta da.

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