At the entrance, he looked terrified.
“I’m scared, Bethie.”
Only Mom had called me that in years.
“I know.”
“What if I fail?”
“Then you try again.”
He gave a tiny laugh.
“Mom would tell me to eat my soup and stop complaining.”
“She absolutely would.”
Then he pulled a frozen plastic container from his duffel bag.
BEEF BARLEY – FOR GREG.
“I’m eating this on day thirty.”
“When you finish?”
He nodded.
“When I finish.”
He did.
Thirty days inpatient.
Then outpatient treatment.
Then meetings.
Sometimes several every week.
On day thirty, he called me after eating Mom’s soup.
He said he cried through the entire bowl.
Three men from his group sat with him.
Nobody spoke.
They didn’t need to.
Months later, the men who had threatened him were arrested.
Greg testified.
He sold his truck to repay part of what he owed.
He went to work for another contractor.
