He stood on the top step. “Spiritual awakenings are a bunch of sh*t,” he said.
He took a step down and mis-recited, “Prayer and meditation are also bullsh*t. There is no God.”
Next step, “I KNOW when I make mistakes. Why do I have to tell the rest of the world?”
Down again. “People are frickin’ unforgiving.”
Another step. “Make a list? Make amends? No. Way. In. Hell.”
Step down again. “There is no God. Nobody is listening.”
Down. “If there is a God, He sure as hell made me defective.”
Another. “My life is an open book. I have f–ed it up.”
Four steps from the bottom. “Moral inventory. That’s a laugh.”
Three. “I am not turning my life over to anybody but me. I can take care of myself.”
Two. “There is no hope.”
One. “I am powerless over alcohol. Give me a drink.”
He looked up at the man waiting with a shot of whisky poured for him. He could see the rest of the bottle in the man’s other hand.
He reached out to take the drink and his granddaughter stepped out from behind the man with the whisky.
“Grampa?” she said.
This is my response to the Unicorn Challenge. It’s such a simple challenge: write no more than 250 words and use the photo as a prompt.
I counted the steps in the photo — twelve of them — and decided to do the twelve steps of AA in reverse.
Hot Dogs and Marmalade 
What I love most in the Challenge, Sally, is when someone takes off in a completely different and unexpected direction.
Excellent.
Now give the old boy a drink!
That’s a powerful story, Sally, and an excellent take on the prompt.
What C. E. said about direction and prompts goes for me too.
Your story tells the tale of my character.
Elements of him came from someone I knew, although the story was fiction.
Such a granddaughter might have helped him.
There ARE happy endings.
Well done Sally
Sally that was absolutely brilliant and had an interesting ending! Well done you 💜💜
Wow! That is a powerful story!! Bravo!
I really like where the picture took you. The unexpected ending is perfect. Nice.
This is superb, Sally. An wonderful direction.
I’m with the others…
…in reverse? I guess lol
Wow! Excellent writing!!! Good twist at the end!!
I enjoyed your take on the photo. It is very clever. I think his granddaughter might add extra the best incentive to his stopping. Nicely done!
I certainly hope she stopped him in his tracks! 💞 Great take on the prompt, Sally!
Good one, Sally! – really like the (whisky) twist.