Dope Sick Read Free Page A

interview takes,” I said. “They ain’t in a hurry, ’cause they got their job already.”
    Mama said she really needed the medicine because she had run out, and I said I would be home as soon as I could.
    The prescription was for painkillers. I went into the bathroom and looked through Mama’slittle lineup of plastic containers. I thought I had seen some of the pills she was looking for and found them. I opened the childproof container and dumped the pile out in my hand. There were eight pills left. I put four in my pocket and took the others out to Mama.
    â€œWhere were these?” she asked.
    â€œOn the second shelf,” I said.
    I watched her take two pills with coffee and put two back in the container for later.
    I was supposed to meet Maurice on 125th Street and St. Nicholas. We were thinking on going over to the Home Depot interview together. I wanted both of us to get jobs, but I still hoped that Maurice didn’t look too much better than me.
    I was glad I had spent the money for a new shirt even though it had left me with less than three dollars.
    Maurice was five nine, two inches shorter than me, but broad. We had talked about going into the army together and maybe going to Iraq.
    â€œYou don’t hear nothing much about guys goingto Iraq unless they get killed,” Maurice said. “You ever notice that? You hear about guys being on trial or guys being blown up, but you don’t hear anything about guys fighting their way out of a trap or taking a hill or anything like that.”
    â€œIt ain’t that kind of war,” I had said.
    In the end we had both decided not to join up. I didn’t mention nothing about how maybe the army wouldn’t take me because of what had happened down in Texas. I didn’t want Maurice to know about that.
    We had checked each other out and said we was looking good, and then we had walked over to where they were having the interviews.
    â€œMan, please don’t tell me that’s the line for the job interviews,” Maurice said, looking down the block. “Just don’t tell me that.”
    It was the line. It stretched a full half block down from the store, and more people were coming every moment.
    â€œHow many jobs they got?” I asked.
    â€œThey said in the paper they had six openings,”Maurice said. “My mother said they probably had about ten or twelve, but this is stupid. Look, that dude even got his dog with him.”
    I felt sick. I had really been hoping for the job. I looked over the line and knew it wasn’t going to happen. There were young men, old men, women, Spanish, whites—everybody was out looking for some kind of work.
    â€œI can’t cut this,” I said to Maurice. “I’ll come back later.”
    â€œI’m gonna hang.” Maurice shrugged. “I don’t have nothing better to do.”
    I told Maurice I was going to get Mama’s prescription filled and would be back later to see how the line looked. I remembered that Rico had called me last night and asked me if I wanted to run some work. I had said no, putting all my hopes on the Home Depot gig, but that looked like a bust. I hoped I had some minutes on my cell, and called Rico.
    â€œYo, man, that thing still going?” I asked when Rico answered.
    â€œYeah, it’s still on,” Rico said. “Where you at?”
    â€œA Hundred and Twenty-fifth and St. Nicholas, outside the church.”
    â€œOkay, I’ll be there in ten minutes. Hang loose.”
    I knew that Rico was a stone viper, but sometimes he came up with some crazy money. He was steady dealing weed, Girl, or anything else he could get his hands on. He also had a hundred-dollar-a-day jones he had to support.
    I went down the street to a little candy store and bought a bottle of soda. I took two of the pain killers I had brought along and tried to think what Rico sounded like on the phone. If Rico was right, far enough