Best Friends by Martha Moody

Author:Martha Moody
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group

“DID YOU TALK TO HER?” Sid bellowed over the phone, his voice almost hurting my ear. “Did you explain to her what she’s doing to her future? I’m going crazy here. Did you make her see she’s acting like a madwoman?”

“It’s a terrible situation for her, Sid. Here she is responsible for a person who’s not responsible for himself, and all she wants is for him to have a little peace and—”

“But did you talk to her?” he interrupted. “What about her career? What about her reputation? What about her morals, for God’s sake?”

“I can’t say it’s ideal, Sid, but I understand it. I understand exactly what she’s doing.”

“Let me get this straight,” Sid said. “You think what she’s doing is normal?”

“No, not normal, but . . . understandable.”

“You didn’t talk to her.” His voice was muffled.

“No. I’m sorry.”

“What am I going to do?” His voice was barely audible, the sentence less a question than an exhalation.

I bit the inside of my cheek. “You could take him away, Sid. You could get him into a facility somewhere where Sally wouldn’t have access to him.”

“He won’t agree to a facility.”

“Do you know any judges? Is there any way you could get a court order?”

“He’s not the person out there buying.”

I pressed my eyes closed with my hand. An impossible situation. “You need a deserted island somewhere,” I said, imagining Ben being dropped on one.

“That’s it, I’m taking him out of the picture.” Sid’s tone was full of sudden resolution. “You’re absolutely right. I’ve been thinking about this a long time, but talking to you makes it clear. I’m taking him to Mexico.”

“Mexico!”

“One of my buddies has a house down there on the west coast. I’ll take Ben down there and dry him out.”

“I don’t think you can just take a heroin addict and ‘dry him out,’ Sid. Can’t you get Ben to a detox facility? Or a hospital?”

“There’s a doctor down there, Clare. I’ve been talking about this with my friend. Don’t you think Mexico has doctors? My friend has a friend who’s a doctor in this little town where his house is, and this doctor said he could get Ben on methadone and wean him down. I’ve got to get him away from this whole environment. I’ve got to get him away from Sally.”

“Sid, I’m not an expert on drug addiction, but someone who’s been shooting up thirty-five, forty bags of heroin a week is—”

“Let me handle my own children, Clare, okay? You’ve been great to talk to me, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t see you being very helpful. I hope someday that little girl of yours doesn’t break your heart.”

“I’m sure she won’t.” I wasn’t sure of this at all.

“All I can say is, thank God I have Sally.”

The length of time I knew that Sally delivered heroin to Ben wasn’t long, only a few months. But sometimes knowledge makes a month seem like a year.

Aury was six months old. She reached each of her milestones—smiling, rolling over, crawling, sitting up—just slightly ahead of schedule.

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