Kate walked past. She was walking alongside a man. Eddie’s heart dropped.

After your phone call, I don’t know, I got this just incredible energy, I just decided to go for it. But it would have been so scary alone. And David was so supportive, you know. So supportive.

FOGCUTTER BY FRANK HABERLE 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 02

For a few weeks in Anchorage, Eddie wanted to sober up, but it was pointless. Everybody drank at all times of day and night. Afternoons, he drank in the pool bars on Fourth Avenue, but played terribly. Evenings, he drank alone at his picnic table at the city camping ground.

One night Eddie called Kate. They had been out of touch for many months. Somehow Eddie talked her into driving up from Arizona to meet him in Haines, on the panhandle, 1000 miles away. Eddie hitched a ride with two Christian ladies in a Winnebago who tried to convert him. They failed, but dropped him off in Haines, where he watched the ferries unload everybody but Kate.

Eddie soon found the Fogcutter. It had huge picture windows and decayed, stuffed animal heads. He sat d…