Free Still Candy Shopping by Kiki Swinson

another pill of dope, I’m gonna get sick as hell,” I warned him.
    “Bitch, don’t you think I know about fiends like you? Y’all dope heads snort that heroin through your nose or shoot that shit in your veins all day long. And as soon as that shit wears off, y’all are ’round here trying to get another fix. I’ve been ’round that shit all my life. My mama ODed off that shit when I was fifteen, so I know how that shit works.”
    I let out a loud sigh. “Slim I need a pill of dope bad as hell.” I told him.
    “Whatcha want me to do about it?” he snapped.
    “Look, I—” I started to say, but he cut me off in mid sentence.
    “Look nothing!” he roared. “Now if you think I’m gon’ let you close down shop so you can run and go cop yourself a pill of dope, then you got me fucked up! I ain’t gon’ let no bitch stop me from getting my paper. So getcha ass back ’cross that street and get me some more money.”
    The tone of his voice made it clear that he didn’t give a fuck about me getting sick. And the fact that I knew he had a gun on him made it even more clear to me that whatever I decided to do from this point forward would have to be done with caution.
    I was beginning to feel really weak. And if I did not get a grip of something from a needle really soon, then I wasn’t going to be able to do anything.
    As instructed, I walked back across C Avenue and stood beside Paris. “Are you all right?” she asked me.
    “Nah, I’m starting to get ill. And if I don’t get me a pill of dope soon, then my body is going to start aching and I’m gonna start throwing up all over the place.”
    “You snort dope?”
    “No, I use a needle,” I told her.
    “Turn your back toward Slim and follow me,” she instructed, and I did just as she said.
    I had no idea what she was about to do, but I was willing to find out. I followed Paris to the back of the Shop & Go, but before we turned the corner we heard Slim yell at us, “Where the fuck y’all going?”
    “We gotta pee,” Paris said. “so we’re gonna watch each other’s backs.”
    As soon as we turned the corner, she ducked down behind the bush and reached into her purse. Seconds later she pulled out a cap filled with a white substance. My heart fluttered at the sight of it.
    “Is that heroin?” I asked in a low whisper.
    “Yeah. So take some before you get ill,” she insisted.
    I couldn’t tell you how happy I was to see Paris handing me some of her dope. But there was a problem. I didn’t have a needle, nor did I have a spoon and a lighter. I was fucked up and back to square one.
    I held the pill of dope in my hand like I didn’t know what to do with it. Paris peered around the corner for a brief second, and then she looked back at me. “Look, Faith, we ain’t got all day, so you better hurry up and do something. Because if Slim comes over here and catches us fucking around with this shit while we’re working, then he’s going to bust our asses for sure.”
    “Fuck it!” I said and unscrewed the top part of the cap. I dumped part of it into my right nostril and snorted it as hard as I could. When it felt like I had gotten all of it in, I wiped my nose with the back of my hand and waited for the drug to take effect.
    Paris snorted the other half of the cap of heroin like a pro. She didn’t leave behind even a trace of the substance inside the clear medicine capsule. After she wiped the heroin residue from her nose with the palm of her hand, we fixed ourselves up and headed back around the building to our post. When I looked to see what Slim was doing, I noticed that he was preoccupied with Tacora, so we eased back to our spot and chatted for a bit.
    “How you feeling now?” Paris wanted to know.
    “It’s taking its time to work, but I’m feeling better than I did a few minutes ago.”
    “Just give it another minute or two. You’ll be fine.”
    “Yeah, I know. But let me ask you something.”
    “What’s up?”
    “How old are