Approximately every two weeks I find one on the corner near my house.  This has been going on for some time (more than a year or two) and it is only recently that I’ve begun to collect them and catalog them.  I’m sure this puzzles my family, but the task seems important and oddly relevant.

Observations to date

It is vodka – the same brand most of the time.  I’ve seen smaller bottles – like those found in minibars or from the cart service on airplanes – but in general it is one brand of vodka in a plastic bottle with a red cap:  Crown Russe Vodka.

In the past, the bottle was often discovered in a ubiquitous brown paper bag with just its distinctive red cap sticking out.  Lately, it is found by itself on the street near the curb or in the shallow shrubbery or a tree well.

Because of its location, I assume it is thrown from the window of a car and not dropped by a person walking a dog or going for a jog.  There is a feeling of subversiveness to it. Whomever is consuming the vodka is doing it in secret and feels compelled to discard the evidence on this particular corner.  For awhile I considered that whoever is tossing it was throwing it out the passenger side window as they drive out to the main thoroughfare.  But that makes little sense now that I think about it: if you are drinking in secret then you are probably the only person in the car and would most likely throw the bottle out the driver’s window.

Is This A Shout in the Darkness and Other Questions?

Is someone subconsciously leaving the evidence of their drinking problem on this corner as a cry for help?  Or are they just in a hurry to drink up and get home as soon as possible and this corner is the last opportunity to toss the bottle? Has anyone else noticed?  Does the consumption and disposal occur on a regular schedule for a reason?  Is this person literally drinking and driving?