Indian Horse

Saul leaves Manitouwadge because he recognizes that he is no longer playing hockey because he loves the game, but rather, because he wants to enact his anger on the ice.... he wants to fight. He takes to the road, moving rapidly from one town to the next, wherever work takes him. At first, he enjoys being alone, but eventually he begins to miss the teasing and talk of his old teammates. To fill the hole, he starts going to bars. At first he just sits back and listens to other people’s conversations, but he quickly begins drinking along with them. He finds that he can join in and make up whatever stories he likes, encouraged by drink. Soon, he’s become a high-functioning alcoholic, able to work but unable to give up the way drinking soothes the rotting, angry feeling in the pit of his stomach. His addiction becomes one more reason to stay away from home.