I was walking, and it seemed 
  like days had passed.

I passed  out  at  the  feet of 
  an old man.

I awoke and he told me I had been
  walking  for days and had passed 
  out at his feet.

The old man’s house was well furnished, 
 and so I  thanked  him for  bringing me 
 there.  He offered me glass  after glass
 of water, all of which I drank with fervor.

I agreed  with the  old  man when he  claimed 
  that walking in this heat wasn’t a good idea, 
  and that  doing so  with no  food or water for 
  days at a time was an even worse idea.

I sat back and ruminated.   Memory of the past few 
  days was weak, but that was not considered unusual 
  by him nor I.

I had told him about my ever increasing intake of alcohol.

The old man claimed that the mind was like a well, or something, 
 but I forgot that too.   His claim rang hollow, that much I  recall.

I asked him for some bourbon, but I think he’d finished it already.  As 
  he regaled me with endless stories  about his youth his nose pulsated red.

I slept while he attended some chores.  The sound of a lawnmower awoke me.  It was 
  morning, and I ascertained I had slept the remainder of the previous day and for the 
  full night.

I felt refreshed, yet famished.  My mind was at a level of clarity experienced not for weeks.

The old man was aghast to find me that very morning in the kitchen eating rye toast and drinking gin.

I assured him it was merely because my stomach would find anything heavier most likely disagreeable.

I invited him to join me, and was reassured when he fetched a decanter and did just that.

I felt totally blasted by ten o’clock.  Never had I attained such levels of 
  drunkenness!  My brief period of rest had defeated some of my ever 
  mounting tolerance.

The old man suggested we go out for a night on the town and 
 proffered sunglasses  to perpetuate the illusion.   He 
 seemed quite vigorous.

I declined, asserting that my strength had yet 
  to reach its usual appeal.

I reasoned that such an excursion was 
  precisely what I had been trying 
  to avoid by walking endlessly.  
  It seemed evident there was 
  something from which I had 
  been trying to escape...

 We instead sat in the 
parlor and talked of 
friends dead or 
soon to be
gone.