TWENTY-NINE
ANIJ IS STANDING IN FRONT of a shabby, rundown building. Through the glass front doors, he sees stairs that look dangerously wobbly and parts of the structures that are about to fall apart any minute. The paint on the walls has become someone’s abstract art painting, depicting destruction. Old and abandoned spiderwebs are hanging everywhere. No one could possibly live here. But it seems that there are quite a number of people living here. Anij has been to a lot of bad places, but this must be one of the worst in a very long time. After finishing his cigarette, he walks into the building. His client is waiting upstairs. He gets to the third floor and knocks on the door. He is doing a delivery.
“Who is it?”
“Come on. It is me, Anij. You called for a delivery?”
“Oh, yeah. Come in.”
Then she opens the door. She is Samantha, a regular customer for Anij. She calls Anij almost every week. There isn’t anything out there she hasn’t tried. She is a true explorer, which makes her to be a Professor of Street Drugs. She can probably give a series of lectures on the subject better than any doctor out there. Despite her vast knowledge, she can’t help it. That is why it is called a drug.
She asks Anij for her order. “So, you got the stuff?”
“Yeah, as always.”
“Show me.”
“Okay. Here they are.”
Anij takes out a pouch full of different kinds of drugs: pills and powders. He lays them on the table in the small, dingy living room. The room is filled with stuff from the streets: broken lamps that barely work; curtains of all different colours and materials, with non-matching sizes; an old typewriter that seems to be missing half the keys. Burnt toasters are sitting on the stove. All the empty shelves in the kitchen are open, and dirty dishes are in the sink as usual. Clothes are lying flat on the floor. It seems like the place is a modern conceptual junk art museum. As Samantha picks out a bunch of pills, Anij looks around the place. Again, he is disappointed, as it looks the same as before. He speaks.
“Hey, Samantha.”
“Yeah, what?”
“Why don’t you clean up? There are so many shits in here. You’ve got to do something. You know . . .”
“Oh, well. I got no time for that shit. I always get so high, these all look like an art to me. Hahaha.”
“Wow. That is what I was thinking. This place is turning into an art museum or something. But a messy and stinky one. How can you live?”
“You will get used to it if you can put up with it for more than one day.”
“What . . . ?”
“Or if you are high enough, you won’t give a shit anyway.”
“Hahahaha. Samantha. Samantha. Samantha . . .”
“What? Is it that bad?”
“Well . . . What do you think? Have you ever been to someone else’s place? I have to say . . . This is the worst that I have ever seen. Sorry . . .”
“Well, don’t be sorry. But is it that bad?”
Anij just gives her a look.
“Okay. Maybe I will do something. Okay? Not nice to make fun of my house, you know.”
“Well, you better do something very soon. How can you do anything here?”
“Well, my boyfriend doesn’t really care too much about it, anyway. So I don’t really care, either.”
“Wow . . . That is quite unbelievable. My place isn’t the best in the world, but it’s not this dirty.”
“Shut up. Hahaha.”
“Did you eat anything? I am pretty hungry. Got any food?”
“Well . . . I got some beers, if you want.”
“What? It is ten in the morning. I don’t drink in the morning. Plus, I am on duty, anyway. I do my work right.”
“Wow, you and your work shit . . . That is good. I will take one, then. Sure you don’t want any?”
“Second thought. I wouldn’t eat anything here. Sure that is not going to give you food poisoning?”
“Shut up.” She giggles.
Surprisingly, they always have nice conversations. Anij seems to be very comfortable around her. And she doesn’t mind talking to him for a while. So he keeps her company while he is doing the deal. As he has other deliveries to do, he is trying to close the deal.
He asks, “So, how much are we looking at today?”
“Hm . . . I don’t know. You brought something new today. So maybe I am going to try that one, too. And of course my usual ones, too.”
“Okay.”
“Have you taken these? These are good.”
“No. I never try them. I know what they do. So . . . I avoid them at all cost.”
“Really? How? Why?”
“Well, you know how it is. And I’ve about heard many bad shits happening to people. So I am not planning on doing that shit. I’ve got to stay clean, you know. More and more cops are now hunting down people like us every day anyway. So I am not running my business with stupid risks.”
“Wow, that is a smart move. I wish I could be like that.”
“Well, you just have to reduce the dose. Otherwise you will get messed up well before you even blink your eyes twice.”
“I know . . . But with the shit that I am in, it is impossible anyway . . .”
“Well . . .”
“Righto, it is time for me to take some stuff . . . That you don’t want to take.”
“Okay. If you need anything, you know my number, right?”
“Yeah. Thanks, Anij. Come by sometime, you know . . .”
“Okay. I’m off. ’Bye.”
“’Bye . . .”
Anij walks downstairs and gets in the car. He usually does this delivery alone. Maybe he enjoys her company much more than the other customers. The tires squeal, and off he goes. The convertible is the only way for him to drive anything. The wind in his hair reminds him of the good old Bikini days. When he used to live on Bikini Island, sea breezes blew all the time. So he obviously took it for granted. Lately, he misses his old home more than ever. But as he gets busier at work, he is quite happy and settled with his convertible and stuff. Certainly not a bad choice.
Sometimes he wonders what it would have been like to live in Bikini Island if he had stayed. After the bomb tests, nothing could possibly have gone right. That is why everyone had to leave in the first place. He had so many ugly and stinky memories from when he was stuck in the ship and the naval base; but now he can laugh about them. It is all past, now. It doesn’t bite his ass anymore. Even uncertainty about his future makes him happy, since he knows that it would at least be better than those old memories.
He arrives at his house. As usual, the boys are hanging around by the pool. Mario isn’t there yet. The boys are always high and having the same old fun every day. They probably wouldn’t get tired of living like this for at least another fifty years.
“Hey, Anij. Where have you been?”
“I got deliveries.”
“For who?”
“You know. My usual customer.”
“Ah . . . Kevin?”
“No, not that one. Samantha.”
“Oh, that hot chick?”
“Really?”
“Yeah, that hot chick.”
“Oh, how is she?”
“What did she wear?”
“Why?”
“Oh . . . Samantha is your special, right? That is why you always go alone. Right?”
“You know . . . I want to get to know her. Why didn’t you take me with you?”
“Well, you were sleeping. And . . . Shut up. I just sell her stuff.”
“All right . . . But next time she calls you, please take me, man. You know I like her.”
“What? You like her? That druggie?”
“What are you going to do with her anyway, even he takes you there?”
“Well, she looks kind of nice, right? So you know, maybe I can be her friend, or something like that . . .”
“Oh, yeah. But she is a total white trash, you know.”
“Friend? Hahaha. She wouldn’t even look at you, man . . . What are you talking about?”
“Well, she is a little different . . . I think.”
“That is what you think. Anyway, any more phone calls? Any other deliveries?”
“No . . . Oh, Mario called.”
“What about?”
“I don’t know. I know it was Mario, but as you can see, I was little too high to understand all that shit he was talking about. You know . . .”
“That is just perfect.”
“No, I don’t think it is anything. He didn’t sound mad. Maybe just a checkup call. You know.”
“Okay. I will ask him later.”
“Whatever . . .”
The boys go back to their seats by the pool and have some more magic dragon puffs.