18

During all this, Rae continued to lead personally many of the foraging expeditions that were keeping the Penists supplied. Inevitably, there came a day when he stepped into some sunlit kitchen, freshly abandoned by the Vacationers, and was arrested by the sight of a half-full bottle of tequila sitting on the counter.

Rae’s alcoholism had rapidly faded since he had come to believe in the colony’s anti-Alien mission. Before he came to the island, he couldn’t imagine a day where he didn’t think about alcohol and his next drink. But now, whole weeks passed where he didn’t even realize he wasn’t drinking. He would have counted such a thing a supernatural event in his past life. No doubt, a large measure of his success in combating his addiction to alcohol came from the engaging nature of his work waging war against Alienation. When he wasn’t leading foraging expeditions, he was discussing strategies for removing the Vacationers with Ross, or holding court of sorts in the prisoner’s barracks, teaching all who would listen about the harms of an Alien addiction. But it must also be acknowledged that until this point, Rae had had no opportunity to drink.

Rae stared at the bottle as if frozen. He did not know how long he was trapped there in the presence of his old addiction. And then, in a flash, as if something in him had snapped, he rushed up to the bottle, pulled out the cork and dumped the contents in the sink. He did not hold the bottle until it was empty, dropping it instead like it was a poisonous snake. Nor did he wait to watch the tequila slither away down the drain, but fled out of the cabin into fresh air.

He led the Penists back to the colony with the food they had collected and mostly, he felt good about himself for resisting temptation. But the next morning, when he woke his jaw ached like it was broken. He realized what a trial it had been for him, and was somewhat cowed.