Whiskey Lullaby (1098 hits)
Category: RomanceRating: 1.94 on 18 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by nitty (View user info) at 2005-07-18 10:45:03 EDT
It never should have gotten as far as it did, as fast as it did.
That was the first sign that there might be a problem.
In the world of whirlwind romances, perhaps theirs was the heavyweight champion. The gold medalist. The world-record holder. Seems they went from first date to moving in together in no more than a fortnight. That's not right, and that's not normal.
I told them it was too soon, but kids never listen, do they? Kids - Christ you know I'm old when I'm calling 30-somethings kids. But they had loved and lost before, and I think both were desperate for something better to come along. They found it in each other, but no fire that starts that fast and burns that hot can burn for long, and they were no exception.
She left him, and by doing so left him a bitter, broken man. The women he had spent years courting had left him for another less than a year before, and this one, this woman he had thought defined 'love at first sight' had left as well. Not even for another, just left for the sake of leaving. Somehow, that hurt even more than the first. At least with the first he had a reason - but this time, the woman just left.
He had always been a drinker, but never in an abusive sort of way. He drank with friends, at restaurants, on holidays. Slowly, now, he began to drink more. A little at night, to help him fall asleep. A little more in the morning, to help him wake up.
You see, he was trying to drink her memory away - trying to kill the mental imagery of her by using whiskey to kill his brain cells. I heard in a movie once that memory cells were the hardest sons-a-bitches to kill. I believe that now. He never could drink quite enough, and she never left his mind.
Have you ever seen the way people deal with suicide? Should a person shoot or hang or slit themselves, it's pity and sorrow and time for what-ifs. He comitted suicide, but not in the eyes of those who knew him. What they saw was an alcoholic who finally crossed the line with one of his binges. I know better. That young man killed himself, and knew exactly what he was doing. He didn't have a gun, so he put that bottle to his head, and pulled the trigger, and in doing so finally was able to drink away the lingering memory.
People talked, like people always do. They speculated on reasons for his demise, but I didn't need a reason. When I found him he was laying face down, with nothing in the room but that damn bottle of whiskey - and a note. It wasn't addressed, and it wasn't signed.
"I'll love her 'till I die."
That was it.
I knew what he meant.
But most didn't. Rumors flew for months after we found him. Hell, there were so many that the rumors had their own rumors. She came to the funeral, and stood in the back, crying without making a sound. And she blamed herself.
People told her to be strong, to keep her head up, that she wasn't at fault and that no one could have seen it coming.
But she knew better.
And so did I.
I never even told her about the note I found alongside his body. I didn't need to tell her.
After the funeral, she moved away. I couldn't say I blamed her. There were too many voices in this town. Too many memories. Too many people. Too much pain. This town had been she and him, and since there was no more him, there was no more reason to be here.
Until a few weeks ago.
When she came back.
I was driving past the cemetary, and saw a thin, frail figure kneeling at a headstone under the old willow tree. I know most people around these parts, and didn't recognize what I saw, at least not until I got out of the car and walked closer.
It was her, talking to his grave. After nearly 4 years, here she was again. She either didn't hear or didn't care when I walked past. Deep in conversation with a slab of marble, I didn't want to bother her, so I didn't go any closer. Besides that, I was scared of what I saw.
She looked like he did just before he died. A shell of the beautiful girl she once was, her eyes were sunken, her skin was yellowed, and she was rail thin. Even from where I was, I could smell it.
She had been drinking.
He spent years trying to drink away her memory, and it seemed she was doing the same thing. Only this time, I think she was trying to drink away the pain. I suppose someone should have told her - memory cells aren't the only ones that are hard to kill. Drinking away the pain of a memory might be even harder.
Finally, she did manage to drink it away. Like her lover before her, she put the bottle to her head, and she pulled the trigger.
They called me, like they always do, and I found her in the cheap motel room she had rented. Two empty bottles of whiskey on the bedside table, and her hand clutching something to her chest. When we moved her she dropped what she was holding. It was a picture. I didn't look at it, because I didn't need to. I knew it was of him.
Sadly, she had no family in these parts anymore, and we knew of no way to contact any kinfolk. We made a few calls, but with no ID found anywhere in the room it was up to us to bury her.
So I made the arrangements, and we laid her next to him in the cemetary, under the willow tree. I think they would have both wanted it that way.
Funny, I didn't set up for any music at the burial, but more than once someone who was there has told me they heard singing. I didn't hear it myself, but every time someone tells me about it and I ask what it sounded like, the answer is always the same.
A Whiskey Lullaby.
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'Whiskey Lullaby' by Allison Krauss and Brad Paisley won the award for Best Video at the 2004 CMA Awards, and was done here by request.
-nitty
User Reviews
Submitted by Crystle (user info) at 2005-09-07 15:53:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by dragonOT02 (user info) at 2005-07-19 01:19:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Thats such a great song. Good job.
Submitted by Blackhailfire (user info) at 2005-07-18 23:33:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by HadToBeDone (user info) at 2005-07-18 15:35:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by COMountain (user info) at 2005-07-18 14:45:10 (#)
Ranking: 2
How am I supposed to have my nightly Jim & Coke now?
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Nightly Jim & Coke? How am I suppsoed to drink a third of a bottle of tequila and try to be coherent on Uber?
Submitted by COMountain (user info) at 2005-07-18 14:45:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
How am I supposed to have my nightly Jim & Coke now?
Well written though.
Submitted by southernmiss (user info) at 2005-07-18 14:10:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Great
Submitted by FATMANTPK (user info) at 2005-07-18 12:05:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
The song and video are great, although a little depressing (Especially the begining of the video)
Submitted by badassmofo (user info) at 2005-07-18 11:39:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Nitty - good stuff as always.
Submitted by MyNameIsTim (user info) at 2005-07-18 11:24:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
but he never could get drunk enough to get her off his mind...
i love that song. you truly did it justice.
Thanks.
Submitted by GroundHogSlayer (user info) at 2005-07-18 11:21:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Well show me, the way, to the next, whisky bar...
Submitted by Jeanneee (user info) at 2005-07-18 11:19:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Beautiful song. Alison Krauss is one of my favorites.
Submitted by TigerLilly (user info) at 2005-07-18 11:18:47 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Another great one Nitts. I'm a BIG fan of you too.
Submitted by krissi (user info) at 2005-07-18 11:12:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Awesome song - good job.
Submitted by Berty (user info) at 2005-07-18 11:06:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
What an ace story. Everytime I see people who are really in love piss it all away I feel like re-enacting that scene from Planet of the Apes.
Submitted by Mr-Boo (user info) at 2005-07-18 11:01:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Good story. Would have been +2 if you had written it yourself.
Submitted by iradney (user info) at 2005-07-18 10:57:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by nitty34 (user info) at 2005-07-18 10:56:19 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
yep
Submitted by Sassmasterr (user info) at 2005-07-18 10:54:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
are you in ubermadness?