Bums and Drunkards Never Learn

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Several years ago my husband’s brother Arnis died from TB or tuberculosis. It is a disease which is found rarely now but somehow he caught it. He was a lazy man who was a hopeless drunk and like so many others here in Latvia drank homemade alcohol similar to moonshine. Now I think even moonshine is probably better than what they sell here. People distill this stuff in their own homes. Here in Latvia this alcohol is called “krutka” and all of the bums and drunkards know where to find these points. The interest is that the stuff is pure alcohol and very cheap. They drink it straight. I shudder to think and wouldn’t touch that stuff with a ten foot pole. It is like something out of a movie. A person goes up to a house and raps on a door or window, pays the money and get a bottle of krutka. Oh, yes I almost forgot. You can also bring your own bottle to be filled. Arnis got TB because he spent a period of time hanging out and drinking with some bums in a hole in the wall. After his death you would think that his pals who were also drunkards would become more careful about where you drink and with who you drink. Unfortunately they didn’t even consider stopping. As a result of which one of his friends lost his job and apartment and moved into a shack. The shack had a wood burning stove, no electricity of course, and not much else. He made his home there. One day he and his pals gathered together on a cold night for a krutka drinking session. Sometime during the night as they lay passed out the shack started burning. I don’t know if anyone survived but the pal did not. He died from smoke inhalation. Pal number two was luckier because he had a room in a house which belonged to relatives. However the relatives started complaining about his drinking and were afraid he’d begin dragging his drunken pals home. So the guy started drinking in all kinds of odd places. One such place was a remote area of Riga where he and a group of other bums gathered. They proceeded to get themselves smashed on krutka. Something went very wrong. This pal started to choke on the krutka and before his buddies could do anything he died. Now the three of them are up beyond the stars. At least there they cannot drink but they can tell each other all kinds of crazy stories about the life they once led.