The line saying she thought the father looked as if he had been crying and/or appeared drunk reminds me of an excoworker that was a dear friend of mine back then.
This guy (coworker) would drink himself into oblivion, he couldn't help it. He talked about it as if it was just a casual part of life, not exhibiting that it was not normal or that it was a disease. Just, this is me... He'd go out and do all sorts of things, including driving, and not remember a single bit of it. He made phone calls, shopped, went to weird places, had black outs as he called them, and he had no control. A true alcoholic. He was really depressed, and drank to numb his feelings, but be MORE depressed when he started sobering so then would drink even more. It didn't matter if it was day or night, he would stay drunk for days at a time and remember nothing for those days. He sometimes even randomly came to work, but we would send him home because you could see he was drunk, hadn't showered or changed his clothes for days. He would disappear without a word for days, and it became more and more frequent until he ended up in a hospital. It was absolutely grueling to watch and have no ability to help him. It was very sad. I lost contact with him some years ago, but last I heard he was living in an assisted living place after rehab.
