Apple and Alcohol, a short story

Apple and Alcohol

by:Setareh


The party was just over. It was early in the morning; people had
left to snuggle in their beds. The smell of beer and whisky would fill
their bedrooms. They could hardly open their eyes and find their way
home. The bellhops had to help some of the youngsters, holding their
arms so that they could stand on their feet. The loud laughter and
music was sill there. Some were keeping on dancing till they huddled
into their sport cars. The bottles of alcohol, all empty now, were
fallen or standing on the table. But the fruit was yet virgin.
A green round apple came out of the dish, rolling on the table until she
reached a green bottle resting on a corner. She looked into the bottle
curiously; there was little alcohol inside.
- "Hello alcohol!" she said.
But the alcohol was quiet; as if it was a long time he had died. She
called him louder, but the alcohol was silent. She was scared. She moved
back and then rolled forth with force, hitting the bottle.
-"Ouch!" She cried out, feeling hurt.
The alcohol moved weakly in his bottle, and tried hard to speak.
-" Who's it...let me die now!" he finally uttered.
-"It's me, the green apple. The party's over, friend."
-" I'm not your friend, now, can you leave me die?"
-"Hmm…well, no I can't simply let you die."
-"Huh…so there's somebody in the world who doesn't want me
dead."
-"Of course there is."
-" No…no, no, there isn't." he said angrily, as if trying to keep
serious. "You are green, you don't know anything."
- "Why are you so exhausted? You were not dancing, or… were
you?"
-"Dancing?...me, dancing?...boo! I wouldn't say boo to a goose!"
-"Well maybe not to a goose , but just now you said boo to a green
apple, friend!" she said rather seriously, as if sulking.
-"You're a freak! Why did you wake me up? Go, go let me …"
-"Let you what? Let you die?" she interrupted the alcohol. "Well
maybe you're right, such a rude…"
She paused for a moment, thinking she has been too angry with such little
weak alcohol
.
-"Look friend…"
-"I told you I am NOT you're friend, understand?"
-"Ok, ok…relax! Look alcohol, you're so little and weak now,
you…"
-"But I was so much and strong…" he sighed. "Hmm… you should
have seen me before the party." He said with a trembling voice like that
of an old man.
-"I know, that's too bad."
-"But now who minds? I'm dying here, and so many of my friends
are already dead. Just look around!"
The apple looked around; there were so many bottles and cans of
alcohol resting on the floor, some on the tables, others in or around the
dustbins.
-"I was in the hands of a beautiful girl, yeah… such a pretty, pretty
girl. She shook me too much while she was dancing; and I guess she
couldn't understand what was going on all around her. Maybe I… and
other boys too, had just wiped her senses off her mind. I don't know.
They say they have good times when they drink us, alcohols."
-"Oh…you must have been feeling so dizzy all the time in her
wicked hands."
-"Well, it's true; but I thought I am giving them pleasure and
energy, so it's fine."
-"But if you take their senses away, then how can they be
enjoying? Isn't it that people enjoy because they have senses?"
-" Good question, friend!...but, but...well, I think it's kind of a
pleasure, exclusively for …for human beings, yeah, it must be that."
-"That's nonsense!"
-"Yeah, maybe they call it that way, ‘none-sense pleasure’."
-"No, no, I mean…well, forget about that”. She came closer to the
alcohol.
- "Let me help you stand up."
-"Oh, good idea…thanks."
The apple rolled so close to the bottle and tried to raise his neck by
holding it on her shoulders. The alcohol moved in his bottle and stood
upright.
-"Feel better now?"
-"Yeah, much better."
-"People,…I mean human beings love you so much, that's why
they are a lot of cans and bottles here in this room."
-"Yes, dear apple, they love us alcohols, they drink too much of
us."
-“But all during the party no body even took a glance at me". She
sighed. "Nobody loves me."
-"You don't need their love, if they loved you, you wouldn’t be
here right now, huh?"
-"Well, yes. But I don't like to see that nobody loves me."
-"I told you, you are green, you don't know anything."
-"I'm NOT green." Said the apple angrily.
-"Ok, ok, relax! But you should look into the mirror, or you can see
yourself in my bottle."
-“ But…you’re green, too.”
-“Oh , you’re right.”
They both laughed at the idea. After a moment of silence the apple
came closer and looked at the alcohol kindly.
-“ And do you love them?”
-“Well, I’m not sure…I think I like them,…but,…but... you know,
they’re…strange. Sometimes they drink too much of us.”
-“Maybe they’re selfish, huh?”
-“Sort of…but well, it seems they don’t really care for anything,
even for themselves. You know I mean...uh…we are not really good for
them, they say.”
-“So why do they drink you?
- “To get rid of…hey, why don't they eat you?”
-“I don’t really know?”
-“But I know…you don’t remove their senses.”
-“What do you mean?”
-“I mean they drink me to gain that ‘none-sense pleasure’,
to...to…”
-“To stop thinking?”
-“That’s it!”
-“But isn’t it that thinking makes men superior to other beings?”
-“Oh, you’re not really green!”
-“I told you I’m not.” She smiled proudly.
The alcohol laughed and said: “They say so.”
-“But science says alcohol is bad for human beings, it might even
kill them.” She said excitedly.
-“You mean knowledge?”
-“Well, knowledge of science.”
-“And knowledge is an apple.”
The apple burst into laughter. But the alcohol watched her so
seriously.
-“Hum,…well, no knowledge means…”
-“I know what knowledge means, dear green apple.” He said
looking wise. “But the apple, maybe the first apple, was the apple
of knowledge, and I suppose it was not green.”
The apple felt rather insulted, she looked at him frowning and said.
-“I don’t understand what you say, you must be drunk.”
The alcohol laughed and replied: “Drunk? Drunk alcohol? It’s not
possible, dear apple.” Then he asked:
-“You know about the Adam’s apple?” asked the alcohol.
-“Well, it’s a part of body, human body.”
-“No, no I mean the apple which Adam and Eve ate.”
- “Adam and Eve? They’re your friends?”
-“Oh, well no, no….they’re the parents of all the human beings.”
He said while he tried hard not to laugh at what the apple had just asked.
-“Parents of all human beings?”
-“Yeah, and the first human beings who came to the world. They
ate an apple from a tree which God had called forbidden. Satan…uh, you
know Satan?”
-“Yep, my mum has told me about Satan and the angels.”
-“Well, Satan tempted them and they ate that apple, which was the
apple of knowledge.”
-“Why shouldn’t have they eaten it, why God didn’t let them do
it?”
-“Well,…I don’t know, maybe it was a trial for them, to fight
against Satan.”
-“Why Knowledge?”
-“I don’t know, the Bible says that.”
-“But isn’t it knowledge that tells them alcohol is bad, and that
apple is good for them?”
-“Huh! Then that’s why they don’t eat apples but they drink us
alcohols.”
-“What do you mean?”
-“Well, it’s easy…apple is knowledge, knowledge is bad, so drink
alcohol, but don’t eat apples; pretty easy.”
-“Nonsense!”
-“You mean ‘None-sense pleasure’?”
-“No, I mean knowledge can’t be bad, apple is not bad too. So
maybe just church going people drink alcohol, huh?”
-“Well, maybe it was not really an apple, or even not knowledge,
but you can rarely find drunk people among the church going or religious
human beings.”
-“Why?”
-“ Well, maybe because they know that Jesus would never do so,
neither would Virgin Mary, I mean they know that good people, those
who were God beloveds, would never drink alcohol; or they Know that…
that… well alcohol is bad for their livers.”
-“So…alcohols are bad?” asked the alcohol hesitantly.
-“Hmm…yes, but the way a love child is bad.” They couldn’t
choose being or not being. But people shouldn’t make them.”
- “Even if they’re just a little?”
-“Can you tell me lying is bad or good?”
-“Well, it’s bad, everyone knows that.” She replied surprised at his
question.
-“Now what if you tell a minor lie?”
-“Well, it’s still really bad”
-“Even if it doesn’t hurt anybody or anything?”
-“Lying is bad, whatever a lie it is.” She replied confidently.
-“I think, that’s just the same for alcohol.” He cast his eyes down
and maybe for the first time, he felt really ashamed of being an alcohol.
They were both silent for a while. The apple was very happy that she was
not an alcohol, but she felt really sorry for the alcohol who was very
downhearted at the moment. The silence was bothering them both, but
none of them could find the right words to end it. Then the apple
whispered gently:
- “But I love you alcohol, not the way the human beings love you,
but the way the apples love each others.”
The alcohol liked her kind remarks, but he knew they were just for
making him feel better. He smiled, and said:
-“And apples, just like love, are good, even if they’re small, even if
they’re green.”