Greatest Of All Legends

384  The Bottle

"I get it kid... you're hurt... but the solace you neED... wouldn't be found in a BOttle,"

"A bottle doesn't solve problems, it can only contain them... and that too for a limited time,"

"And with alcohol that weak, the pain will be back tomorrow morning with a splitting hangover,"

Jason just kept listening thinking how ironic it was for a guy holding a bottle of what seemed like cheap liquor and already dead drunk, advising him not to fall into a spiral of alcoholism.

"Trust me… I know,"

"Years ago… when I caught my wife cheating…- on me, with my best friend,"

"I turned to the bottle... because I didn't want to deal with the betraYAl or lose myself to my anger… but as I fell in love with the bottle…"

"I lost sight of everything else and this gave her an opportunity to divorce me, and take almost everything I own!"

"Even my chilDRen!!!"

"... Now, my babies have taken to calling that bastard friend of mine their father while I… I am a good for nothing that they hardly ever think about,"

Jason saw a few tears drop from the hobo's eyes and Jason himself could not help feeling a shiver sweep through his body as he heard the guy's story.

He had half forgotten his own problems and was just sympathizing with the poor guy.

"Can I help you with anything though?" Jason didn't know what made him say it, but the words tumbled out of his mouth.

"Nah, don't worry. Bout. Me," the hobo sang in a drunken voice.

"Just leave behind the bottle of alcohol when you're leaving, it's been a while since I drank something... high class," he laughed heartily after, his tone dismissive.

It was clear from his voice that he was a loser in life and he had accepted that fact. He didn't plan to change it and just wanted to live the rest of his days dousing his consciousness with the contents of a bottle, having given up faith in making a comeback.

Even if he got a chance to change anything, there wasn't a likelihood that he would, and Jason could hear that in his tone, but Jason could also hear his intention of not wanting anyone to follow him down this path either.

"Here," Jason tossed the bottle at the hobo and surprisingly the guy caught the bottle with amazing ease despite being dead drunk.

"Ahhhh... the good stuff," the hobo grinned as he looked at the bottle in his hand.

"... Anyway, leave the bottle to losers like me while you try something else to deal with your pain…"

"Ah! Don't try ingesting anything that has weird intake methods," he added.

"You mean drugs?" Jason asked with a raised eyebrow, a bit amused now.

"Is that what they call it now?" the hobo asked with surprise in his tone, sounding like he was from a previous generation who didn't keep up with the times, and with how rough he looked, he did look the part.

"Anyway, try something else! Maybe go meet one of those people that take money to listen to your problems," he continued.

"You mean a psychiatrist?" Jason added.

"With a name like that, just fu*k her during the session. It shouldn't be too hard to do that with your face," the hobo just said the most erratic things, his mind already beginning to shut down after he took another swig of the cheap alcohol he held.

"Not all psychiatrists are female," Jason replied, not understanding why he was now actively conversing with a hobo.

"..." the hobo stared at Jason long and hard before asking,

"She has a third leg?"

Jason face-palmed and almost started laughing.

"There are a lot of freaky things going on in tha world now ey?"

"Well, no matter… just go to a church and go sing hymns and do those prayer things…"

"... Or you can have a private meeting with one of those nuns… you know, one of those confession thingies," the hobo rambled on and on.

"... I haven't exactly sinned so I don't have anything to confess," Jason countered.

"No no no, I'm not talking about a "Forgive me, mother, for I have sinned" type of meeting, I'm talking about a "I'm sorry mommy, I've been a bad boy"… type of meeting,"

At this point, Jason was almost convinced that this hobo was just trolling him and wasn't actually drunk, because why else would he be telling him to go to the house of God and go sleep with a nun just because he had experienced heartbreak?

Jason wasn't exactly what anyone would term a Christian as he hadn't been at a church for years, but due to having been raised in a church till he was seven by his parents who were devout Christians, he felt quite repulsed to even think of doing something like that. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"What are you on?" Jason asked, now having reasons to believe that whatever was in that cheap-looking alcohol was more potent than what was in the bottle he held a minute earlier.

"You mean this?" the hobo asked, holding up the almost empty bottle of dark brown liquid that looked like a darker-colored apple juice.

"It's rum… Captain Sparrow's Rum," the hobo said, sounding dramatic all of a sudden.

'Ok, definitely, this nigga trolling,' Jason thought with a little laugh.

While he thought this, he wasn't actually a hundred percent sure.

In fact, he wasn't sure anymore. The guy could have been lying about his family and might have simply fabricated an elaborate story just so he could get his hands on the bottle in Jason's hands before, but now Jason didn't even care.

For a moment, he had been mentally defeated and had almost succumbed to temptation and no matter what happened, what remained was that the hobo had somehow managed to help him get over it and had even lightened his mood a bit which was quite helpful for him.

For that, the hobo had his gratitude and Jason didn't care about much else.

He had faced a lot tonight, but this wasn't the time to succumb.

He had to get back on his feet and move on.

With his mind having escaped his pain for a bit, he quickly connected his phone to his car's speaker, and not long after a loud voice came out from his car's speaker as Jason shut the door of his car.

{Do you hear me calling} The voice of Juise WORLD singing a classic blared into Jason's ears as he once again began driving.

He had to get back to Porto tonight as his life had to continue… this time with Sofia no longer in it.

The hobo watched Jason's car dart off and a satisfied smile appeared on his face, but the cause of his satisfaction would forever remain unknown.