Alcoholics Anonymous - Jim’s Story - p. 239

This physician, one of the earliest members of A.A.’s first black group, tells of how freedom came as he worked among his people. But I found that after I got to North Carolina, it wasn’t any different. The state was different, but I wasn’t . Nevertheless, I stayed sober there about six months, because I knew that Vi was to come later and bring the children. We had two girls and a boy at that time. Something happened. Vi had secured work in Washington. She was also in the government service. I started inquiring where I could get a drink, and, of course, I found that it wasn’t hard. I think whiskey was cheaper there than it was in Washington. Matters got worse all the time until finally they got so bad that I was reinvestigated by the government. Being an alcoholic, slick, and having some good sense left, I survived the investigation. Then I had my first bad stomach hemorrhage. I was out of work for about four days. I got into a lot of financial difficulties too. I borrowed five hundred dollars from the bank and three hundred from the loan shop, and I drank that up pretty fast. Then I decided I’d go back to Washington. Alcoholics Anonymous - Jim’s Story - p. 239