I began bumping into everybody more. Worse, I began tripping over their words in conversation, running headlong into their personalities when I was alone with them. My vices turned on me. Alcohol lost much of its effect and became simply nausea-inducing, whenever I was able to get it. I was forced to buy cheap malt liquor, get more drunk than I would have otherwise, and vomit even more.
Gods work in ironies, too.
Events began to accelerate to a point a few weeks after my temple visit, when Ganesh decided to indulge his sense of humor. It happened at the hospital. I had a volunteer job there for the summer. This took up most of my mornings and a good part of my midday, but I was becoming used to the white floors and walls. All the sickness and dread and hope in those places oozes along the floor tiles and through all the doorways.