The most that I can learn - Is in records that you burn - Get your gunn, get your gunn

Purgatorio

I spent nearly every day at Baker’s house. We would buy some dope, usually with my money, and sit and smoke it until it was gone. Then we would talk. One day I came over and Ninja was acting very strange. He was muttering to himself and jumping at every sound. He ran into the backyard and stayed there for a long time.

Callie and I were sitting in the living room when Baker came in with his hand bandaged. He told us that he had a pinched nerve. The doctor had given him pain killers and muscle relaxers. He had taken too many and was stumbling around and slurring his speech. He bent down to tell me how beautiful I was and pretended to trip so he could try to touch my chest. Callie got up, scolded him and shooed him away. Then Ninja burst in shouting about the masked men outside. He jumped over the piles of junk to show us what was out the window - nothing. He was going through 'meth psychosis' and a lack of sleep. "I can't stand these crazy guys! Let's get out of here!" Callie said to me, so we got into my car and drove away. He boyfriend called her while we were driving and asked her to deliver something for him. We went to his out and he gave us 5 grams of meth. He gave her a list of all the people buying that night along with addresses. "Keep whatever is left." he told us. Callie took the wheel and we went to the first house in a run down neighborhood. When we arrived at the door, a man let us in and hugged Callie. He took us to a back room and told us how much he wanted. Callie pulled an electric scale out of her purse and asked if I knew how to use one. I faintly recalled my sophomore chemistry class so I took the scale and the large bag of dope. I measured out what the man wanted while Callie took and counted the money. After I wrapped the dope up in cellophane and gave it to the man, we were on to the next house where we did the same thing. 10 houses later and we were finished. We drove the money back to her boyfriend's house and headed back to Baker's with out substantial reward. On the way, she asked if I minded stopping at her son's apartment. I agreed and we pulled off. We climbed the stairs to his door and knocked. A short young man with dark hair answered. "Jason!" Callie cried and hugged him. He let us in and Callie introduced me to him and his room mate. In the car she had made me promise not to mention the drugs we had on us but once we were inside she was telling him all about it. He asked if we could all smoke a little and she asked me if it was alright. I was a little surprised but I pulled it out of my purse and we got busy.

Later, we returned to Baker’s to show him and Ninja what we had. Baker and Ninja wanted to shoot up so Baker went to find a big box of syringes he kept. We each got one. After that I asked Ninja if he wanted to go visit my friend Brett. He agreed so we got in the car and left. When we got to Brett’s I saw another old friend named Josh there. Josh had just bought some dope and asked us to join them. This time we smoked it. Brett showed me his new tattoos while Josh talked about some good stuff he was buying tomorrow. I gave them my number and told them to call me so I could try it. Finally, it was late so I had to go home.

The next day I had a little dope left hardened in my pipe so I smoked it in the parking lot before going in to work. I spent the whole time reorganizing the jewelry cleaner. I loved tweaking at work. When I got bored, I power-walked around the store.

After work, I checked my phone. I had a missed call from Brett. I called him back and he told me to get over to his house to try the new stuff so I went to pick up Ninja and head over there. When we got there, I had another call. It was Josh this time telling me to leave Ninja in the car because Jackson was coming and he hated Ninja. I was surprised to hear that. I thought they were friends. I told Ninja to stay in the car while I went inside. When I got in, Jackson wasn't even there. I asked them what was going on and they told me they just didn't like Ninja. They asked me to sit down and offered me a cigarette. While we smoked, they told me that they didn't have the dope yet and that Jackson was bringing it. We talked for about 20 minutes and smoked more cigarettes when I remembered that Ninja was still in the car. I asked if he could come in yet and they said yes. I went out and got him. Later, Jackson arrived. Brett’s mom answered the door and invited him in. He showed her the dope and she paid for it. Then she asked if we would all like to smoke some, and a circle was formed. We passed and talked for an hour. It was getting late and I was still having fun so I called my mom and told her I was sleeping over with a friend.

Jackson mentioned something about his ex being at his place and not wanting to go home. He asked if he could hang out with us. He got in the back seat of my car and we drove all night long. When the sun was coming up, I looked to see that he had fallen asleep in the back seat. I told Ninja to get rid of him because I wanted him out. I stopped at a convenience store so I could buy some cigarettes. When I got back to the car, Ninja told me the plan. Since Jackson cooked meth, he would need someone to help buy all the supplies because it was too suspicious for him to buy it all the time. I agreed. We dropped him off at a friends and went to the store. We wandered around looking for carbon, string, drain cleaner, Sudaphed and everything else on the list Jackson had scrawled on the back of an ATM receipt. After buying it, we took it back to Jackson and gave him a ride to his house, where he gave us a chemistry lesson.

Days went by and life was becoming routine. Go to Baker's house, get high, go to work, go back to Baker's house and get high. Occasionally we'd go to Brett's and smoke with him, his mom and Josh. One afternoon, on my day off I was at Baker's when Callie got a call. A friend of her's was going crazy at another friend's house and wanted to leave but had no transportation. He told her if she could get him a ride, he'd give that person 1/2 a gram of dope. Callie was on her way to her boyfriend's but offered the job to me and Ninja. I agreed. Ninja drove while we went to this house to pick up Geoff. Geoff was a very large read haired man in his mid 50's. We picked him up and we could tell he was tweaking heavily. He threw a duffel bag in my trunk and hopped in. We asked where he wanted to go and he told us anywhere but here. We drove around for a while when I got a call from Jackson. He was at a store outside of town and needed a lift. We set off in his direction. Geoff made me nervous so I was fidgeting in the passenger's seat. There was a pry bar by the door that we had for emergencies and I played with that for a while, then I flipped my phone open a few times to check the time. Suddenly Geoff asked us to pull over, he wanted to change his shoes. When he got back in, he flashed a large handgun. "Just for my protection" he said, and he pointed the gun at the back of my seat. "Keep driving" he said. I was so bummed out that I had somehow upset him. I knew I wasn't going to get the drugs that were promised to me. I partially wondered why I wasn't more alarmed that there was a gun at my back. We arrived at the store and Geoff, who was luckily a friend of Jackson's, surprised him with a gun in his face. They had a good laugh while Jackson climbed in and we drove to Jackson's place to drop them off. As I suspected, I didn't get payment.

The next day Callie told me that Geoff was paranoid and thought I had taken a picture of him with my camera phone and planned to hit him over the head with the pry bar. Oh.