Then, too, one day back in ’85 a car pulled to the side of the road I was walking on and a window rolled down, a man asked, “Would you like some Coke?” Thinking he had in mind of Coca-Cola, the popular drink, I thought a case of that would be fine. “How much?” I asked in return. “Oh, just give me five bucks, we’ll divide it up,” the man said. I wasn’t too good with figures but sometimes math seems the least of it. “Sure,” I said, got in the car where I found myself seated with 3 other guys, each of whom passed along some money to the dealer
Slowly, they passed among themselves a curious white powder in what looked like a gum wrapper. Each man gave it the evil eye and pronounced it good.
Finally, it passed on to me. I gave it the old looksee, first one angle and then another, carefully slanting one eye and then another. Then I tipped up the whole substance down my throat and swallowed it. No taste to it. How strange.
“Where’s my Coke?” the man beside me asked.
“Oh, I swallowed it,” I said.
There was then a great commotion in the car. The man who had first spoken to me out of the darkness shouted,” I’m a gonna blow your head off!”
I eased out of the car then, slammed the door shut, and leaned against the whole contraption, burst out laughing. Suddenly, the whole thing seemed hilarious, life, death, the whole riddle.
“This guy’s crazy,” the dealer said as the car drove off into what was becoming one dark night. I straightened up and walked away, humming some simple tune. It was but another day among the living.
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