The
old-timer hadn't seen Mike at meetings for a long time when he ran into him
grocery shopping. "Good to see you again, Mike. It's been a long
time. How are you doing?"
"Okay,"
said Mike. "Got in a fight at work and lost my job. Things aren't so good
at home, but I haven't used. And I know what you're going to say."
"You do?"
said the old-timer.
"Yeah.
You were going to say, why don't I go back to the meetings."
"So,
why don't you?"
"Aw,
the program just doesn't work for me," answered Mike.
"It
doesn't work for me either," said the old-timer. "It doesn't
work for anyone."
"What?"
"To
recover from addiction and experience that happy, joyous and free thing, you have to work the program."