Blackout

by Erin Flanagan

Everyone thinks old people are old except for old people.”

One of the seductive traits of drinking was how it allowed you to hold your problems at bay. All emotions, really. Fear, terror, helplessness. With enough wine, she wouldn’t have to feel anything—

Many people held generational trauma in their bodies, the legacy of their ancestors, and she believed this was true of all women. The anxiety, the startle response, the vigilance. It lived in all their muscles and skin.