The Black Market

by Kiki Swinson

  “Misty, who are you working on first?” he called out to me.

  Feeling like I was about to have an anxiety attack, I shoved the bottle of Percocet into my pants pocket.

  “Hey, there you go,” he said as soon as he saw me. “What are they waiting on?” he continued as he stood in front of me.

  “Mr. Lewis is refilling Trexall. And Mr. Williams is getting another refill of Metformin,” I told him while I placed my right hand over my pants pocket to prevent Sanjay from seeing the bulge.

  “Get the Metformin and I’ll get the Trexall,” he instructed me.

  “I’m on it,” I said and walked away from him. I swear, I couldn’t tell you how scared I was when Sanjay walked up on me. I would’ve shit in my pants if he saw me with that bottle of Percocet in my hands. I couldn’t lie and say that I had it because I was refilling one of those guys’ prescriptions. No, that wouldn’t have made any sense. I needed a cover, so I wasn’t going to take any more pills unless I was filling a prescription for the same drug. Other than that, I was gonna chill.

  * * *

  A few hours later, Sanjay said, “You can leave now.”

  I looked at my watch. “Are you sure? I mean, we’ll be closed in fifteen minutes.” I needed to delay leaving cause I needed a chance to put the bottle of Percocet back.

  “Don’t worry. I’ve got everything covered. There’s a storm coming our way, so get home safely,” he insisted.

  I sighed heavily. “Okay,” I replied reluctantly. I mean, what other choice did I have? He was my boss, so I wouldn’t dare tell him that I had just pocketed a brand-new bottle of Percocet from the storage cabinet and now I wanted to put the bottle back. If I did, I’d be asking this man to fire me on the spot.

  “Don’t forget to drive carefully,” he reminded me.

  “I will,” I assured him as I grabbed my jacket and purse.

  Sick to my stomach, I dreaded leaving the store. Why couldn’t I be more careful? If I hadn’t listened to Jillian, I wouldn’t have this fucking big-ass pill bottle in my pocket. I could see it now: After Sanjay goes through the inventory in the morning, he’s going to look me in the face and ask me where the missing Percocet bottle is. And I’m going to have to tell him the truth because who else could’ve moved it? I was the only employee there. Or, let’s say that I did deny it, all he would have to do is look through his security camera. Now it wouldn’t show me actually taking the meds because of the angle, but it might show the bulge of the bottle in my pants. Damn! I’d really fucked up now.

  3

  UNFRIENDLY VISITORS

  My stomach had a ton of knots churning all at once. The bottle contained three hundred and fifty pills with a seal on it that had never been broken. Knowing the amount of pills I had on me was giving me an anxiety attack. After I got into my car, I sat there motionless. I thought of breaking into the pharmacy after Sanjay left, but then I decided against it because of the high-tech security system he had installed inside and around the building. I was fucked. Up the creek with no paddle is what my grandmother always said.

  Twenty minutes passed, and I found myself still sitting in my car, which was parked across the street from the pharmacy. My body wouldn’t move. I couldn’t get up the gumption to put the car key into the ignition. So, while I sat there in the same spot, I noticed Amir pulling up to the pharmacy. But this time, he wasn’t alone. I saw two guys with him. One was in the passenger seat while the other one sat behind the driver’s seat. I watched them closely as Amir drove down the alleyway of the building, and immediately after he parked his car, he and the guy in the back seat got out of the car together. They closed the car doors, and my heart took a nosedive into the pit of my stomach when I saw the guy from the back seat aim a gun at Amir’s back. “What the fuck?!” I muttered. But only I could hear me.

  Not being able to answer my own question, I sat there in disbelief while I watched the guy from the passenger side follow Amir and the other guy to the back door of the pharmacy. “Damn! Something is really about to go down,” I said to myself, at the same time trying to figure out why some guy would jam the barrel of a gun into Amir’s back. What kind of business did they have going on?

  Curiosity really got the best of me because without giving it too much thought, I got out of my car and crept back across the street. The sun was setting, so I took advantage of the natural lighting outside since it was light in some places and dim in others. The lighting at the front entryway of the pharmacy was dim, so I tiptoed toward it. The moment I came within four feet of the building, I looked through the glass window and saw Sanjay being shoved around behind the counter. I could also see him explaining something to those guys Amir brought with him. Amir was nowhere in sight, so I wondered where he could be.

  While I watched Sanjay being pushed around, I also saw him handing the two guys boxes of prescription drugs. I couldn’t read the labels, but I knew that whatever the drug was, those guys wanted it.

  I stood there for a few minutes, and when I thought that I had seen enough, I scurried back across the street, got into my car, and left. En route to my grandmother’s house, I called Jillian’s cell phone. She answered on the second ring. “You gotta be calling me with some good news,” she said.

  “Girl, you ain’t gonna believe me when I tell you what I just saw,” I replied.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  “Are you still at Grandma’s house?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Good. Stay right there. I’ll see you in ten minutes,” I told her and then disconnected our call.

  Four seconds after I placed my cell phone inside the cup holder, it started ringing again. Bothered by the sound of it, I snatched it out of the cup holder and answered it. “Hello!” I roared.

  “Hey, what’s wrong with you?” the male voice asked. The voice belonged to my ex-boyfriend Terrell Mason. Terrell used to be the love of my life. He was the hottest nigga in the city. Tall, dark, and handsome was what everyone called him. I guess that shit went to his head because he turned into this arrogant and unapologetic nigga overnight. I put up with it because he was paying for me to go to school to get my pharmaceutical license, with money from that party-promoting business he owned. But that all fell apart when he started cheating on me with bitches that were bold enough to come and knock on my front door looking for him at all times of the night. The last straw for me was when he got one of those bitches pregnant. I gave him his walking papers immediately after the chick showed me her ultrasound. She even had Terrell’s dumb ass recorded at one of her doctor’s appointments after they were told what the sex would be. I watched him from her camera phone as he held her hand throughout the ultrasound screening. I swear, my heart ached for months after that revelation. She hasn’t had her baby yet, but I know her delivery date is right around the corner.

  “I’m irritated about something right now, so I’m really not in the mood to talk,” I told him.

  “Does it have something to do with me?”

  “No, Terrell. Not everything I’ve got going on in my life has something to do with you,” I pointed out.

  “Can I see you later?”

  “No.”

  “Well, when can I come over?”

  “Now is not a good time,” I told him.

  “You keep brushing me off like I’m some random-ass nigga that’s trying to holla at you.”

  “Look, Terrell, I don’t have time for this right now. I’m gonna have to call you back later.”

  “You’ve been saying you’re gonna call me back all week. And you still haven’t done it.”

  “That’s because I’ve got more pressing issues to deal with. Call your baby mama,” I spat. This nigga was getting on my last fucking nerve. He wasn’t relevant to my life at that moment. He’d had his time with me until he cheated. I’d moved on.

  He deliberately ignored my suggestion to call his baby mama and instead asked, “You seeing another man?”

  “What?! What are you talking abo
ut?” I roared. Having another man in my life was the furthest thing from my mind.

  “Tell me the truth,” Terrell insisted.

  “Look, I gotta go,” I replied, and then I pressed the End button. And immediately after I ended his call, I sifted through my settings and blocked Terrell’s phone number so he wouldn’t call me back. I was over him and his cheating ass.

  * * *

  I knew I told Jillian that I’d see her in ten minutes, but I ended up getting there in less than six minutes. Jillian was on the front porch of our grandmother’s house when I pulled up alongside of the curb. I didn’t have the chance to park my car good enough before Jillian made a beeline toward me.

  “Misty, you got my ears itching,” she commented after she got into my car. Jillian was an impatient person. She never liked to wait for anything.

  “I think my boss is working for some mafia type guys.”

  “Why you say that?”

  “Because right before I left the pharmacy, I saw his brother Amir pulling up with two other guys in his car. And when they got out of the car, one of the guys put a gun up to Amir’s back and pushed him into the back of the store while the other guy followed them. And then after they went through the back door, I peeped through the windows in the front part of the store and saw Sanjay being pushed around. I even saw him give those two guys boxes of prescription medication too.”

  “Yo, I can’t believe that you’re working for the mafia!” Jillian said with excitement.

  I nudged her chest. “That’s not funny.”

  “Yes, it is.” She continued to chuckle.

  “What if he’s not? And what if those guys were robbing him?”

  “You can call it a robbery all you want. But I believe that he’s into some illegal shit,” Jillian continued, and then she said, “Speaking of illegal, were you able to get me a few pills?”

  “Is that all you care about?” I was getting more disgusted by the second.

  “Whatcha want me to dwell on, that shit that happened back at your job?”

  “Could you at least act like you’re concerned?” I replied sarcastically, and simultaneously pulled the bottle of pills from my pants pocket and threw them at her.

  Her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. “You stole a whole fucking bottle of this shit?!”

  I tried to cover her mouth with my hands while I looked around to see if anyone was watching us. Jillian mushed my hands back toward me. “Quit it. No one can hear me. It’s a fucking ghost town around here. Most of Grandmother’s neighbors and friends are in an old folks’ home or dead,” Jillian said dismissively as she ripped open the bottle of pills.

  I slapped her on the thigh. “You really have no filter,” I complained while I watched her poke her finger in the pill bottle.

  “I can’t believe that I am holding this huge bottle of fucking Percocets. Can you even imagine how much money we’re gonna make from them?”

  “We’re not selling all of those pills.”

  “Yes the hell we are,” Jillian protested, and then she opened the car door and stepped out.

  “Jillian, I’m not playing with you,” I yelled as she slammed the car door. That didn’t stop me from talking. I climbed out of the car behind her. “Hand ’em over, Jillian,” I yelled again, shutting my car door.

  Jillian totally ignored me and made her way into the house. As soon as I stepped inside, I heard my grandmother’s voice. “Where is Misty? I thought you said that she was outside.” Her voice was coming from the den, which was in the back of the house and a straight shot from the front door.

  “She’s coming now,” Jillian told her.

  “Hey, Nana,” I spoke as soon as I entered the den. I walked over and kissed her on the cheek. My grandmother had my heart. She was the matriarch of the family and holding the Torrey name down.

  She looked at me from head to toe while Jillian took a seat on the sofa across the room. Jillian pulled out her phone and started texting someone.

  “How’s work?” my nana asked me as I sat down on the sofa next to Jillian.

  “Work’s fine,” I replied, simultaneously reaching for the pill bottle between her legs. Jillian used her left hand to push my right hand back.

  “What is that you’re trying to get from her?”

  “My bottle of vitamins,” I lied while still trying to get it from Jillian.

  “That’s an awfully big bottle. Why do you need so many?” my nana continued.

  “That’s the way it comes,” I lied once more.

  “I’ll be right back,” Jillian announced to my grandmother and me, and then she hopped up from the sofa and raced down the hallway.

  I wanted to get up and run behind her, but I didn’t want Nana to think something serious was going on.

  “So, I hear that your mother is dating a new guy,” Nana stated. My grandmother was a cute old lady. She kind of reminded me of the actress Cicely Tyson. She was the nicest person in the world. The kind of woman that would take in a dozen homeless people and feed them. She’d talk about how good the Lord was to her too. You can’t get her to cook you some food without hearing about the Lord Jesus Christ. Those two went hand in hand.

  “If that’s what you want to call it,” I replied nonchalantly. My mother’s name was Kathreen Heiress and she was a fairly decent-looking woman. Back in the day everyone called her Mrs. Diana Ross. She had the whole look. But after the relationship with my dad failed, she started drinking heavily and dated anyone that would give her the time of day. Her favorite pastime was daily trips to the ABC liquor store. My grandmother has tried to help her plenty of times by offering to send her to an alcohol treatment center, but my mother wouldn’t hear of it.

  “Have you seen him?”

  “A couple of days ago when I went by there to get my mail.”

  “What’s his name?”

  “Carl.”

  “What does he look like?” Her questions kept coming. I forgot to mention that even though she’s very generous, she’s also nosy.

  “He’s tall and slim. Looks like he played basketball in high school.”

  “Does he look like one of those city slicksters from the streets? You know that’s all your mama deals with,” my grandmother commented.

  “Maybe back in the day. He had on a uniform from a bread company downtown. So, he’s probably one of their delivery drivers,” I told her. But in all honesty, my mother’s new boyfriend doesn’t work for no one’s bread shop. I just told my grandmother something so she would leave me alone about that man. I really couldn’t care less. I had more pressing matters at hand and it sure wasn’t that nigga my mother was fucking.

  “Does he drink like she does?”

  “I don’t know, Grandma.”

  “Well, for her sake I hope he doesn’t. Can’t have two alcoholics running around in the family. It’ll make us look bad.”

  “But he’s not a part of our family,” I pointed out.

  “He will be once she marries him.”

  “Who said that they’re gonna get married?”

  “I know your mother better than you do. The moment a man shows interest in her, she’s going to fly down to the justice of the peace to marry him. See, your mama has a fear of being alone. She’s been like that since she was a child. I thought she’d grow out of it. But unfortunately, she didn’t.”

  “Let’s not cancel her out. She still has time,” I said in defense of my mother. But on the other hand, my grandmother was right. My mother always had to have someone in her life. She was a very needy person. And old habits definitely die hard.

  She changed the subject. “How is your boss treating you down at the pharmacy?”

  “He’s treating me good. I don’t have any complaints,” I lied. But I was about to shit in my pants from the mere thought of this guy. I was starting to contemplate whether I should go back to work tomorrow. For all I knew, those guys could’ve robbed him and killed him. I didn’t want to see his dead body on the floor in a pool of his own bl
ood. I wouldn’t ever recover from that. Now, I’d seen a few niggas on the block get their asses kicked, you know, get a couple of bruises here or there and that was it. I guess I was going to have to play this thing out by ear. I really needed to find a new job before I left this one.

  I sat there in the den with my grandmother, and boy, could this lady talk. She asked me every question under the damn sun. “Did you know that fella that got arrested for selling all those drugs from his mother’s house in Norfolk?” she started off.

  “Grandma, there’s a lot of people in Norfolk that’s selling drugs,” I responded casually. I mean, the statistics are being recorded every day.

  “I’m sure you’re right. But this fella had set up a meth lab inside of his mother’s garage. They took his mother to jail too. But I heard this morning that the cops let her go after realizing that she had no knowledge of what he was doing.”

  “Nah, I didn’t hear about that,” I told her. I wasn’t really interested in the family affairs of that guy and his mother. I had bigger fish to fry, and my cousin Jillian was one of them.

  “Want something to eat? I’ve got a pot roast on, but in the meantime I’ve cooked up a batch of salmon croquettes. And I got a pot of turnip greens too.”

  “I’m really not hungry right now, but I’ll get a plate to go,” I said, as I looked in the direction of the door that led out of the den. “Where did that granddaughter of yours go to?”

  “It sounds like she went upstairs to her bedroom,” she guessed.

  I stood up from the sofa. “Let me see what she’s doing,” I insisted.

  “How long do you plan on being here?” my grandmother wanted to know.

  “Maybe another fifteen to twenty minutes,” I replied as I exited the den.

  “Come and give me a kiss before you leave.”

  “I will,” I assured her, and then I disappeared.