The stewbum threw his head back and tried to scream.

It was a stewbum, all right The irony was almost funny.

After he had seen the stewbum in the culvert, the nightmares had begun again.

Oussander grabbed the stewbum by the hair and yanked his head up.

The stewbum was wearing a ragged, unravelling reindeer sweater that looked so startling it almost seemed surreal here southern California.

Mr. Griffin derided the playwright as "a stewbum who never did nothing for New London."

Maybe he was even wearing a clown suit, although I've dealt with enough witnesses to guess maybe it was just a stewbum or a transient wearing a bunch of cast-off clothes.

It doesn't matter if you're James Jones, John Cheever, or a stewbum snoozing in Penn Station; for an addict, the right to the drink or drug of choice must be pre-served at all costs.