Page 88 - Vol. VI #3

O.G. (continued from preceding page)
out the window. She listens vaguely to the tal- Let me show you what I got for protection, he says.
ent show through the walls and tries to imagine
a sunrise off Australia, penguins at the African Cape, a seal clapping at her arrival in Alaska. The Oxycodone dissolves in her blood, pulses through her veins. Unfolds in her cells like the blue day- flowers outside her window.
He unzips his jumpsuit, removing a semi-auto- matic Micro Uzi from a holster and pulling out his wallet to flash his concealed weapon permit. He detaches the weapon’s magazine and encourages her to aim the gun through the glass separating the exercise room from the hall. Angie—walking
She smiles and crosses her fingers at her waist. by monitoring the talent show’s perimeter—
She closes her eyes. She dreams. looks up stricken, as if she’d squeezed the trigger.
~ Olivia cackles, slapping her free hand against her
Ms. Walters, the junior high nurse, buys three
hundred tabs on her lunch break, all while trying I don’t do guns, she says, passing the weapon to tell Olivia about her janitor closet hi-jinks with back. Overkill.
Coach Peal. Ben from the local high school comes
next and buys twenty-five. Lindsey, his ex, buys
fifty. Luke and Billy and Sean—all local college
boys—buy a couple bottles each.
The talent show is in full swing as Olivia’s custom- ers arrive. Louie bungles a couple card tricks but manages to yank a chickadee from his grand- daughter’s ear even though she won’t stop crying. Franny sings “Forever Young.” Granny Belle plays violin. Ms. Gretel dances a salsa with an extra step no one can account for.
Ole Carl howls some stricken bayou blues down the hallway, making his usual dreadful impro- visations on his harmonica. Once in Olivia’s room, Abdullah buys the rest of Fang’s supply and crushes one of the pills with a pocketknife. Olivia—surprised and thrilled he is buying every- thing she has—agrees to snort it with him. They crush and snort a couple more.
Olivia is in the exercise room, in the middle of her workout routine, when Abdullah arrives. He is on time as always and looks his usual sharp self in
a white jumpsuit and long hair braided tightly in squares. Abdullah is Olivia’s favorite—she can’t help it. He’s charming, good-looking, precise; he brings her various delicious soups from the sand- wich shop he manages when not attending night school. Busy as Abdullah is, he maintains a side- hustle. Good for him.
I’m getting out, she says as they lay side-by-side on her bed, her pale blue eyes full of a distant light. Starting over. A neverending cruise.
Stayin’ swoll, O.G.? he asks as she finishes a set of military press with a couple twenty-pounders.
She allows Abdullah to kiss her on the cheek be- fore he departs, and withdrawing he takes one of the seahorse earrings in his hand and says they are beautiful. She blushes. Taking the suitcase, he is halfway out the door before she calls:
Enemies stay creeping, she says with a grimace.
Abe, before you go, tell Angie to prepare my wa- ter, please. I am ready to be bathed.
Sweat trickles down the well-worn lines of her face and Abdullah spots her for a couple more sets, dabbing this sweat gently away from her temples with a small white towel.
~
Yo wake up, Piju. Here come cherry beams!
Shit. Where’s my gat? 79
knee.
Let me know if you change your mind, Abdullah says. I got guns galore.
Heard it before, O.G. You can’t quit. You’re in love with the struggle.