Why drinkers dread sitting with sober people

I guess, like the chicken and eggs, the jury is still out on whether cell phones can bring down an airplane during takeoff. Or if one would die if one drank alcohol while taking antibiotics.

I generally avoid drinking while on antibiotics because I am a very well coping person but the problem is my friends.

Why do people insist you have a drink even after you’ve told them you’re either on alcohol or on antibiotics?

“Oh, come on, it’s an old wives’ tale” they’ll cry. “You have a double.” It’s annoying. My theory is that people are afraid to sit down with someone sober because then their true selves might be discovered and one might find out how dysfunctional they are.

I was with some acquaintances at The Mustang Lounge on the seventh floor of the Emory Hotel in Kileleshwa. I was on antibiotics, which is always difficult. We – a fairly large group – took over a few high tables at the end of the room.

The rest of the room spreads eastward into a hall. One side of the wall was the Nairobi skyline and like all skylines at night, it was gorgeous. The bar was fairly full and the wait staff was overwhelmed.

I didn’t mind, because I was making a hot invite and looking at everyone drinking, their voices getting louder, their faces flashing more, feeling their superiority over them.

When you’re sober and you’re with folk drinking cocktails and wine, two things happen quickly; You get tired sitting down faster than you usually do, and secondly, you realize how loud people talk in bars.

How exaggerated their laughter seems. You even get bored, so to speak. And everyone, I mean everyone, asks you at first, “Why don’t you drink, are you sick?”

Because you can’t suddenly become indulgent or belong to a church sect that frowns on drinking.

“I am SDA.” I told them, “Technically, it’s 7 p.m. Friday, Saturday has started.” Sorry, they said, as if I had just been declared terminally ill.

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