Copyright by the A.A. Grapevine;

       reprinted with permission.

      FOREWORD

      The stories in the first edition of this book originally appeared in the A.A. Grapevine, A.A.’s international monthly magazine. In this second edition we’ve updated the book by adding new stories – some from the A.A. Grapevine and others sent directly to us from members. In this book inmates tell these personal stories of the miracle of recovery. Each found freedom and hope from alcoholism’s devastating disease through the program of Alcoholics Anonymous. These A.A.s share their experience with you in the hope you will identify with their problem, and that you gain the strength through the Twelve Steps, fellowship and tools of the A.A. program to join them on the road to recovery—physically, mentally and spiritually—from alcoholism. For more about A.A., you can read the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, our basic text where you will find our program of recovery.

       Perhaps our co-founder described this miracle best:

       “I have seen hundreds of families set their feet in the path that really goes somewhere; have seen the most impossible domestic situations righted; feuds and bitterness of all sorts wiped out. I have seen men come out of asylums and resume a vital place in the lives of their families and communities. There is scarcely any form of trouble and misery which has not been overcome among us.”

      Co-founder Bill W.

       In “Bill’s Story”

       Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 15

      CONTENTS

      Slay the Dragon Soul Searching Dear Mac Brief History My Name Is Helen No Longer a Phony The One Prayer that Really Mattered School of Hard Knocks Suddenly the Program Came Alive Freedom Nice Jewish Girls Don’t Go To Prison From the Inside Out On the Jailhouse Floor Miracles Happen Saved from Herself How to Make It on the Street Freedom Is a State Of Mind Between the Lines Not Bad for a Redneck from Mississippi Adding Up the Score A Thing Called Hope Five Simple Actions Ernest C, The Coffeepot and Me Coming Home Jump Right In Life Is Good The Twelve Steps The Twelve Traditions

      SLAY THE DRAGON

      I had been a “guest” of New York State’s Department of Corrections three times in three years. Each time they released me, I was never ”ready to face the world.” Far from it. Prison was no teacher to this A.A. My only “lesson plan” was feeling shame and dirty. That was normal to a victim of incest.

      I first came into the Fellowship in 1988. I was 36 years old. I had no criminal record yet. I had felt I was an alcoholic after taking my first drink. After my first A.A. meeting, I could no longer deny it. I was grateful. I believed I had finally come home. The speaker at that meeting told my story. That was my first spiritual experience in the program.

      With the speaker’s help, I went to a treatment center the next day. I had no idea that treatment meant leaving my twin sons, age five. I would be gone for the next four months. If I had known that, I would not have gone. But as I look back, I think it was a very good thing that I didn’t know.

      With the help of A.A. and God’s grace, I stayed sober for six years. My issues with incest were put on the back burner. The first five years,

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