“What are we doing with our lives?” asked Dave like a comedian. “I haven’t seen you in a year and a half, and we’re sitting here talking about a crappy movie. I mean, I don’t think I’ve seen you since… my wedding.”

“I guess it has been that long. How’s Elizabeth?”

“She’s doing well. She’s working hard; she just started a new work-from-home job a few months ago.”

“Yeah? I’m trying to find work right now myself.”

“You know, you should get a job here. Come work nights with me. It’d be great to have a friend around.”

“I can’t do that, man.”

“Why not?”

“I just can’t.”

“I mean, the pay and benefits are good enough.”

“I’ve got meetings that I go to. I can’t work nights.”

“Meetings?”

“Yeah, meetings.”

“What kind of meetings?” asked Dave. He gave a sideways glance. “Are you in a cult or something?”

“No!” laughed Billy.

“Well, what kind of meetings?”

“...Uh, A.A. meetings.”

“Oh! Good for you!” said Dave.

When that tooth was pulled, a breath of life flooded the conversation. Some things get to be said with a little chuckle; some are said with a little wince.

“You have a problem? I knew you smoked a lot, but I never really thought of you as a heavy drinker. I guess I just wasn’t there for it.”

“Yeah. I’m still not sure how to feel about it, I guess. I blacked out for a month, and the next thing I knew, one of my friends was driving me to Alabama in the middle of the night. You remember Trevor, right? From college.”

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“No, I never met a Trevor. Wow though. Good guy. I wish I could have been there for you. I wouldn’t have known what to do though.”

“No, it’s fine. I wasn’t really reaching out anymore. You get to a point where it’s easier to sink than swim. What happens next feels natural.”

“Man... I just wish I could have done something. Kudos to you though. I’m proud of you for getting yourself together. I guess I kind of watched Cliff go through the same thing; I didn’t know what to do for him, and I wouldn’t have known what to do for you.”

“What happened to Cliff? I haven’t seen him since your wedding either.”

“Awe, we had a falling out when I needed his help selling fireworks last summer.”

“This past summer?”

“No, the one before, right after the wedding.”

“Oh yeah. I remember you asking me for help with that, but I couldn’t.”

“Yeah, I don’t want to go into details on what happened. We just had a falling out. I want to hear your story. What was going on?”

“I was having a hard time. I was working too much because I didn’t have any money because I was spending it all on alcohol to help me deal with working too much. I met a lot of people in rehab who did a lot of messed up things. Stealing, mostly, but it’s never as simple as that. We all kind of put each other’s mistakes into perspective.

“I thought I was normal,” Billy went on. “I used to work at this call center, and I’d fill up my cup with rum before I went in. I always had a two-liter of Dr. Pepper in the car, and I’d pour some in just for coloring. I thought everyone was doing that, that everyone was on something. I thought it was normal to just try and make it through the day.”

“That’s heavy man. I’m glad you’re here.”

“Thanks. I’d do that every day. Then my bosses found out when a cup spilled, and I got fired. They were nice people, some old guy and his wife. One spilled cup broke the cycle. I blacked out for a month and woke up in another state.”

“How do you feel now?”

“Well, even though I don’t have a real job, I have a lot more money now that I’m not spending it on drugs and booze.”

“Good for you, man. I’m really happy for you,” said Dave. He took another sip from the paper cup. “Happy for you: it’s weird and phenomenal that people can do that.”

“What do you mean?” asked Billy.

“I mean, I don’t think humanity could flourish as it has without delighting in the success of others, but that’s such a complicated thing to do. You have to tell me your story, I have to understand it enough to feel what you felt, and then it creates the response in my brain that says ‘I’m glad you’re okay!’ And this can happen with anyone. Close friends. Strangers. I’m telling you, man, empathy is a kind of black magic.”

“You callin’ me a wizard?”

Dave laughed. “Maybe I am. You hungry?”

“I could go for something, I guess.”

“Let’s go across the street; I want a burger from somewhere that isn’t here.”

They tossed their trash and headed to the new burger joint, journeying through the gray city on the windy autumn afternoon.