“That stinking bastard. You sorry excuse for bitches. You told him I got drunk again. I only had a little sip.” While she was talking Carol was on the phone. “He told me that if I get drunk again he is going to let the whole country know I have a drinking problem. Why didn’t you say something when I started to drink?”

When Carol hung up she looked at Denise. “I was not hired to keep you sober. I was hired to see if we can figure out why you drink and help you stop. We could stop you on the trip but we can’t stop you forever. You will either stop on your own or you will not. You will either stop drinking or Fritz has told me to bring you back and he gives you a bus ticket. You know what that means?”

“I still have friends.”

“No. You have drinking buddies. When they find out that you are a nobody and you have nothing they will dump you. Here.” She handed Denise the phone. “Call one of them. Ask them to invite you to a party.”

Ten minutes later a crying Denise handed the phone back. “He said I was a drunken bum and I should go back home.”

“Who?”

“The co-star of ‘School Days’. He said that being seen with me was bad for his career. I am washed up and don’t have any future. The studio told him to stay away from me.”

“Try someone else.”

Three calls later she tossed the phone back, rolled over, buried her faced in a pillow and cried.

Saturday

Saturday morning Denise was hung over again. Actually she was not hung over. She was still drunk. She puked in the bath house. They had two demanding sessions and she got through them only because the others helped her. Susan checked the bottles. One was almost empty. They stopped at a store on the way to the mall and replaced it with a new one.

When Denise saw this she asked why. Susan laughed. “You are a hopeless drunk. I told the girls last night that we should take you back. They want to keep on. You are running out of options. The vote to take you back was one to two. They voted no so we keep making money. If one of the others changes her mind we go back. But if you want to drink, I will see you have the booze. I really don’t give a shit if you drink your brains out if you really want to.

Week 2 Sunday

They had an afternoon and evening session on Sunday. When they got up Denise was smashed and one of the bottles was only half full. They got her through the sessions and got back to the RV. On the way out nobody said anything. They went to bed about eleven. At ten minutes after midnight Denise slipped out of bed, got the bottle, looked it for nearly ten minutes, put it back in the cupboard and went back to bed.

Denise Chapter 01: Success in Hollywood

Denise Chapter 23: Denise Gets Acquainted with a Peg Leg

Denise Chapter 25: Grace for Denise Runs Out