Running the Risk Read Free

Queen Street. In thirty minutes.”
    â€œSee you there,” I said as I closed the phone. I was surprised that I had been so forward.

Chapter Four
    On the way to Tim Hortons, I did something strange. I closed my eyes and kept them closed as I walked.
    I used to do this when I was a kid—in an open field, with no one around, with nothing to bump into. And I’d count the seconds. When I got to thirty, something would make me open my eyes. I knew I wasn’t going to bump into anything. I knew I wasn’t going to fall off a cliff. At worst I’d trip and fall down on the grass. But I couldn’t get pastthirty. Thirty seconds with my eyes closed seemed like a long time. Some primitive part of my brain always forced my eyes open.
    The sidewalk was straight. I knew the suburban neighborhood I was walking through. There were a few people around, but I figured they’d get out of my way. And I counted to thirty. The impulse to open my eyes was strong, but I fought it. I squeezed my eyelids shut tighter. I heard some people walking past me, and they were laughing. Even that didn’t make me open my eyes.
    But the tree did. The tree had decided it wasn’t going to get out of my way. It was staying put. I’d made it to forty-two seconds. A record.
    If anyone had been watching, they must have thought I was beyond stupid.Needless to say, I kept my eyes open the rest of the way downtown.
    Jeanette was already in the coffee shop. She waved as I walked in.
    â€œWhat happened to your nose?” she asked.
    â€œDisagreement with another life form,” I said, touching the tip of my nose and discovering it had been scratched. “Hey, thanks for coming,” I said. I wanted to change the subject.
    â€œI’m surprised you asked.”
    â€œMe too.”
    â€œWe’ve been working together for months. How come you ask me out for coffee today?”
    â€œI don’t know. Why did you say yes?”
    â€œI don’t know. I guess I realized you were more interesting than I thought.”
    â€œCan I take that as a compliment?”
    â€œSure.” Jeanette smiled at me, and then she took something out of her pocket. She set a perfectly rolled, rather fat joint down on the table between us. “We’re on stress leave, right?” she said.
    I didn’t know what to say.
    â€œC’mon,” she said, taking a gulp of her coffee and retrieving the joint.
    I followed her outside, and we walked behind the coffee shop. We didn’t go far. She sat down on the curb in the back and, in full view of the cars lined up for thedrive-through, lit the joint with a lighter. Jeanette inhaled deeply and then passed it to me. At first I thought it was a joke. I mean, here we were, toking up, with people looking right at us. But I decided what the hell.
    I sucked in the smoke and, of course, coughed. I’d only smoked a couple of times before and never particularly liked it that much, but I couldn’t turn down a beautiful girl passing me some weed. I handed the joint back to her and found myself smiling at the scowling woman in the Toyota who was looking straight at me.
    The second time I didn’t cough. I was more cautious. This stuff was clearly stronger than anything I’d experienced. Jeanette had taken on a kind of dreamy look, and I found myself drifting up into the sky.
    When I brought my gaze back down to earth, I realized that the rear door of the coffee shop had opened, and someone who might’ve been the manager of the place was headed our way. Time to leave the premises.
    We both got up and started walking away.
    â€œWhy did we just do that?” I asked.
    â€œDo what?”
    â€œSit there in public and smoke a joint.”
    â€œIt was a kind of test,” she said.
    â€œOf me?” “Of both of us.”
    â€œYou don’t normally do that sort of thing?” I asked.
    â€œNo. But it seemed all right since you were with