The boy whistling in the dark

The Book has a word for what the dry drinker says, and it is not a compliment. He is dry at the moment. He says he doesn’t miss it at all. He feels better, works better, is having a better time. The Book calls that a sally,11A sally is a sortie: troops bursting out of a besieged place. It is also a flight of wit, and a trip off the usual track. A blog is all three. Webster’s New International, 1923, p. 1872. and says the people who have been there smile at it. “As ex-problem drinkers, we smile at such a sally.” BB pp.151–152

Two speakers stop on the word. Tim M. glosses it for the room: “What Sally means here is a proffered explanation. It doesn’t mean a silly person.” Tim M. 44:33 Father Tom W. reads the same line and cannot resist: “That’s the last time that word has been used in the English language.” Father Tom W. 41:46

The smile is not contempt. The same paragraph says what the smilers know: “We know our friend is like a boy whistling in the dark to keep up his spirits. He fools himself.” BB p.152 They know it because they whistled the same tune.

Where the paragraph ends

It ends at the jumping-off place. “He will be at the jumping-off place. He will wish for the end.” BB p.152 And then the Book does not argue with him. The next paragraph opens with nine plain words:22Father Tom counts them out loud: “And then Bill writes nine words.” Father Tom W. 43:25

We have shown how we got out from under.

BB p.152 ¶1

What takes the place of the sally

Not a better argument. By Step Ten the Book is describing a different position altogether:

And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone—even alcohol.

BB p.84 ¶2

The sally is a claim a man makes. This is a report of something that happened to him. “We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality—safe and protected.” BB p.85

Two sheets from the Kit carry it into a day: the spot check Step Ten, 2 pp and the two bookends Step Eleven, 2 pp.