THIRTY-FIVE
“IS THIS A PIECE OF HEAVEN, OR WHAT?”
“Totally right. I feel so relaxed.”
“Hell, yeah.”
“I am going to take a nap. Okay?”
“I am already doing it now.”
“All right . . . See you in my dreams, baby.”
It has been already a few weeks since they arrived at Halawa. They are certainly taking advantage of this place and their situation. There is no one to work for. All they need to do here is to relax and walk around the town whenever they feel like it. Sometimes they drive around the town or a little farther, closer to Honolulu. It is basically a very long vacation without an end in sight.
As Samantha has always been a junkie, Anij has started to purchase many different types of drugs. Now he even has a list of his own in many detailed categories. After this mission is over, he will be able to sell anything with his personal experience. He would be the go-to person. But he is just enjoying all this freedom as much and often as he can. It is safe to say that they deserve this. They are both pretty much stoned from whatever they take every day. The initial mission statement has been lost. They don’t really care what this town has to offer. All they know is that this town, Halawa, has the usual types of businesses going on in the streets. But certainly this town lacks a lot in many ways, since it is a smaller town with fewer people. Apart from the size of this town, the main difference is that this town keeps everything very quiet. It is considered by the majority of people a taboo to take drugs.
This is not a Catholic-driven town or anything. Or run by some invisible person that they haven’t found yet who has put a spell on everyone. It is very strange that it is so clandestine — almost like an underground terrorist cell. But as of yet, this doesn’t whistle or ring his bell yet. There is really nothing he can do about it. So he stores this fact in the closet. But again, he has been only too concerned with his life here and Samantha.
An old-style apartment was arranged for them to stay in, close to the downtown, a single-story apartment complex with tropical colours on the exterior walls. There are about ten units in the building. A shared swimming pool is located in the rear. Their unit has a good view of the streets. They can check what kinds of cars and people are passing by at all times.
After taking a long nap as usual, Anij wakes up at around four p.m. He takes a cigar and starts to smoke. There is nothing better than a cigar right after a long nap. He looks outside the window. Then, after a few puffs, he asks Samantha a few questions.
“Hey, baby.”
No answer.
“Hey, Samantha.”
“What . . . ?”
“Wake up. I got some questions for you.”
“What? You got what . . . ?”
“Questions.”
“Hm . . . Let me sleep just a little more.”
“Come on . . . Wake up now, my princess.”
“Okay . . . What is it?”
“Well . . . I have been wondering about a few things in this town.”
“Like?”
“Hm . . . Don’t you think that this town is rather too quiet? Specially about drugs?”
“Yeah. I don’t know what the deal is with this town. But it is very quiet.”
“Yeah . . .”
“Why? Is that a bad thing?”
“Well, I don’t know . . . That is why I am asking you.”
“Hm . . . I don’t know. I have never thought about it that deeply.”
“I know. Me neither. But it is slightly strange.”
“Yeah . . .”
“I mean . . . It is never a good thing to advertise on the streets. But this is too quiet. And it is not even too far from our town.”
“True. If you put it that way, it is pretty strange. Right . . .”
“Maybe I should find that out.”
“Well, you don’t have to, you know. All you need to do is to know what this town is like. And call Mario once in a while. That is it, right?”
“Yeah. But maybe I should find out.” Then Anij puts out his cigar and stands up.
“I’ve got to go somewhere. I . . . will be back soon, okay?”
“Where are you going?”
“I don’t know. I will just drive around the town for a while and then I will be back. I won’t be long. Okay?”
“Okay. Just be careful. Okay?”
“Okay . . . ’Bye.”
“’Bye.”
Anij slowly exits the house and gets in the car with many questions. He looks as curious as a ten-year-old boy. No certain destination is calling. He is just driving the town. It is not like one of those moments when he needs to find the ultimate answer. But it is about time to raise questions. So he goes around the suburban areas just to see some people. As this town really is the meaning of boredom, there isn’t really anything out there to catch his eye. It really bothers him. There isn’t really anything to pinpoint. A total shootout in the darkness.
So he goes downtown where more people are. No danger seems to be lurking around and no strange scenes anywhere. It is just too quiet to be true. It feels like he is driving in a desert, where he might find a cactus once every few miles. Finally, he parks his car on a curb on a street to finish his last cigar. Even after he has finished the long cigar, still nothing has happened. Since he used to be a pickpocket expert, he was expecting to see at least a few guys just walking around and trying to snatch something. But not a single sighting today. He shakes his head a few times and goes back home.
As soon as he enters his house, she yells at him. “What were you doing all this time?”
“Well, you know, I was just wandering around the town to see if there was anything. But nothing, I mean, really nothing happened. I mean, not a single thing.”
“Isn’t that a good sign?”
“Well . . . There can’t be just nothing on the streets. It is impossible. But for this town, I don’t know what it is up to. Maybe I’ve got to dig a little deeper.”
“Well, you don’t have to do it every day, right?”
“Well, up until now, it has been fine. I mean, so far I have kind of ignored lots of things. But now I think I should do my job a little better.”
“Oh, Anij. You just work so hard. Come here. Let me give you a kiss.”
“Is it a present?”
“Maybe . . .”
She pulls him closer and starts to kiss him. Their passion is still flaring up high. He lifts her up and throws her on the bed.
“Say hello to papa!”
“Uh-oh . . .”
Midnight sex frenzy starts again to interrupt the silent neighbours’ night, just like the grandfather clock.
As there is always an exception for anything, drugs do exist in this town. They were really hard to find, but eventually, after sneaking around the town long enough, Anij finds what he has been looking for. It is like a hidden paradise that only very few people know about; very exclusive and rare.
Right after this discovery, Anij’s hard-core journey to drug land has started. As he stays longer and longer with Samantha, his level of drug dosage increases day by day. Before he knows it, he is hooked on drugs. It is obvious that he has become the one who goes outside to get some more. The drug has become like a leech on his leg, sucking his blood slowly, and it will destroy him eventually.
The spirit of his exploration has bloomed as he tries new products every day. He is looking for the drug that he took last night. He asks her, “We don’t have any left?”
“No, but we can take the same stuff from last week. I think we have some.”
“No. I like that stuff better. It gives me a little more pep.”
“I know. But I don’t want to go out now. I am just too lazy today . . .”
“Well, I will go, then.”
“Okay.”
“All right. I am off.”
“Come back soon, okay?”
“Okay. Okay.”
Anij is out to fill out his daily quota. Whistling a jolly tune, he walks to the place, which is, surprisingly, pretty close to their house. And he doesn’t really drive anymore. He realized that there are not many cars like his on the streets. So if he drives around too much, someone might recognize his car, which could have repercussions. So instead of driving, he wears different clothes every time.
He is right in front of the place. There is the creepy guy, Wesley, the one and only dealer. He is sitting on his rocking chair on the front porch, hiding from the sun, a martini in his hand; all a middle-aged guy like Wesley needs for a good time on a sunny afternoon. Anij walks up to him and speaks.
“Hey, Wesley.”
“Hello. Hello?”
“So what are you doing?”
“Just chillin’. What are you up to?”
“Well, you know. Same old stuff every day.”
“So what can I get you?”
“You remember the stuff that I got yesterday?”
“Ah . . . Which one?”
“Ah . . . The one that you gave me with a . . . blue plastic bottle. Yeah.”
“Oh, that one. Good, ha?”
“Hell, yeah! I just can’t get enough of that shit.”
“Well, I told you. You will come back for that shit.”
“Yes, you did. Anyway, you got that stuff?”
“Oh, yes. I always carry stuff for my customers, because you never know when you need one. Right?”
“Yeah . . .”
“Okay, let me find it for you. Not a lot of people like that shit. So I keep it somewhere else, usually . . .”
“Hey, Wesley?”
“Yeah.”
“You from this town?”
“Yeah. What do you mean?”
“I mean, did you grow up in this town?”
“No. I am from the mainland. Not from Hawaii at all. Why?”
“Nothing. Just curious . . .”
“I know I don’t look like people from here.”
“You got that right.”
“Well, you are not from here, either, right?”
“No. I got here just a few months ago.”
“For what?”
“For a little business.”
“Wow, you got your shit, ha? That is good.”
“Well, it is nothing fancy. It is just stuff, you know.”
“Aha . . .”
“So, if you are not from this town, you must have noticed a thing or two about this town, right?”
“Like?”
“Well, it is just between you and me, you know.”
“Oh, yeah. I can’t really talk about my business to anyone anyway . . . Hahaha.”
“Yeah. The thing is . . . after I got here, I found this town . . . just . . . how should I say . . . too quiet?”
“What do you mean by ‘too quiet’?”
“Well, you know. Maybe this city is a little too small. But there is really nothing going on in this town, downtown or anywhere else. I am pretty sure that is not normal.”
“I still don’t understand what you mean by that . . . too quiet? Hm . . .”
“You know . . . Your business? And . . . there must be some other guys doing the same thing somewhere else . . . and . . . you know . . .”
“Oh . . . you mean . . . this?”
“Yeah.”
Then suddenly Wesley looks around to make sure no one is around. Anij senses that he knows something. But Anij pretends that he is not luring Wesley into his trap. A sense of danger catches Wesley’s eyes. Suddenly he stands up and tries to be suave about the topic and offers Anij a drink.
“So, you want a drink?”
“Sure.”
“Come in. I will show you around.”
“Okay.”
They go inside Wesley’s house. A dingy house with not too shabby decoration for a guy his age. They both sit down in the kitchen. Wesley gets a whisky bottle and pours out two glasses. Anij takes a glass and starts to sip. Then the real questions and answers are about to unleash themselves. Wesley starts to talk.
“Oh . . . yeah, when I got here first, I didn’t know about anything. But as soon as I got into this, I found it too quiet as well.”
“Yeah, why? Do you know? I am just curious. I go up and down the streets, and there is no one.”
“So you don’t really know anything?”
“Nope. That is why I am asking you.”
“Hm . . . You’ve got to be pretty careful about this matter in this town.”
“That is what I figure. What is it?”
“Well, there is a big guy’s place just near the bank building in the downtown. You went there?”
“I think so . . . And?”
“There is an office upstairs and that is where everything is happening. All the big hotshots from the other towns go there to trade their stuff.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah. And they do control other guys on the streets. I think they do it so well. No one wants to screw around with them at all.”
“Then how come are you safe here?”
“Oh, they came here before when I started. But it happened that I knew one of the guys. So I got lucky.”
“Wow! That sounds very lucky. So he was your old buddy?”
“Yeah. I really didn’t know him that well. But he was from my old town and I knew him for a long time. So he gave me a break.”
“Hm . . . Interesting.”
“That is all I know. I didn’t want to ask my buddy anymore anyway. So this is all I know.”
“That is why . . .”
“Why are you asking me all this?”
“Well, just asking. I couldn’t get anything from the streets. So I was curious. From my old town, there are guys on the streets just waiting for you, right? So I was used to that kind of stuff. I could get anything anytime I wanted. But here? No way. I can’t even ask anyone. And I found you. That is about it. You know . . . nothing too serious.”
“Okay . . . yeah. I mean that is how I felt at first, too. So it is not news to me.”
“Anyway, this whisky is good.”
“Thanks. Anything else you want?”
“The stuff that I asked for before? The ones in the blue bottle?”
“Oh . . . I am sorry. Let me get it. Just a sec.”
Wesley leaves the kitchen and goes to the living room. A chest is open, and he pulls out the stuff.
“Anything else?”
“Nope. That should do for a few days.”
“Okay. See you.”
“Thanks, Wesley.”
Despite getting all the answers from Wesley, Anij gets out of Wesley’s house with a little grin on his face, thinking only about the drug in the blue bottle.