Chapter Thirty-Four
Double Whammy
In chess one cannot control everything. Sometimes a game takes an unexpected turn, in which beauty begins to emerge. Both players are always instrumental in this.
–Vladimir Kramnik
DAY 6—9:13PM
Casa de Griffin
LUKAS
I used to pride myself on being the “composed drunk.”
When your alcohol tolerance is as high as mine—when you’ve been drinking since you were twelve and exposed to alcoholism since, well… birth—you learn a thing or two about how to keep yourself together.
I used to be “together.” I swear I was.
But from the moment I started picking up a bottle again, things changed. I’d become that sloppy wino that I’d always hated to see—that stupor-laden lush that couldn’t keep his head up no matter how many times you snapped your fingers in front o
