750 words, he said. Give me your life story in 750 words.
I am an alcoholic in rehab and so this life story exercise is part of the therapy. How I got to where I was, the dark places I’d been, down in the gutter and worse, much worse, the story to be discussed with all the others in the group.
So here goes: I was born in Sheffield, my dad was a solicitor and a drunkard, Mum just a drunk. When they weren’t drinking, they argued and when they weren’t arguing, they drank. Never any time for me. I think I came as a surprise, a nasty surprise, to them.
When I was nine, my uncle Kevin started to abuse me – abuse me sexually. I told my mother, but she wouldn’t have it, Kevin being her brother and Dad just took his belt to me for telling lies and so the abuse continued. One day when I was ab
