Story fragment: The bottles

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Don, a much loved local teacher, was in bad shape, serious trouble. There were empty beer bottles all over his apartment, an indicator of distress but of what aspect was this indicator: that the bottles made a mess? no, that didn't matter. That the bottles had contained beer? No. But that there were so many of them, that was the indicator of distress.

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They made the outline of a state of mind. They were the shape of a problem that wasn't being faced but you couldn't just look at them and know what the problem was.

Scott looked around the tiny living room and thought to himself: My best friend has a drinking problem but at least he's not hiding it, he's leaving it exposed. But is there something else he's hiding?

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Then Don came back from the bathroom, opened the refrigerator and took out 2 beers. No thank you, Scott said. I'm feeling too unhappy to have a beer, whatever that means.

To change the subject Scott asked: How is that student of yours doing? The Latino girl that was learning English so quickly....

Aghast he watched as the expression on his friend's face fell onto the floor and tried, pushed hard, but was simply unable to pick itself back up.

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There are some things you don't want to see even once in your life -- but if you see them once, then you say to yourself: I never want to see that a second time.

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