Watches and Warnings by Ryan Wolf

Author:Ryan Wolf
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Enslow Publishing, LLC
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

HEAVENMAKER

I watch over Victor while Dad makes his rounds at the church. My phone is charged. I’m supposed to call Dad if Victor tries anything. I’m not sure what “anything” could mean. Victor is weak. But I wouldn’t want to fight him if he went into some junkie rage. When he was thrown out the day after his high school graduation, he had a fit. He didn’t hold his breath and go blue. He pushed Mom into the refrigerator. Kicked Dad twice in the shin. He grabbed Dad’s wallet. Left it, emptied, in the middle of the driveway. Even before Victor was booted from the household, he was known to steal. Mom was always missing jewelry. Twenty-dollar bills disappeared from her purse. At first, she thought it was just forgetfulness. But then Victor was caught shoplifting. He’d been trading with a girl he knew: stolen goods for Oxycontin. Those pain pills were even stronger than Percocet. While leaving a Walmart, a power drill popped out the bottom of Victor’s coat. It shattered on the pavement. Alerted security. He was ordered to do community service. Join a group for drug abusers trying to get clean. The group met once a week in the back room of Uktena’s only coffee shop. It helped Victor. For a little while. The friends Victor made at his support group would become his roommates. They had connections in Tulsa to dope dealers who didn’t bother with expensive pills. You could snort, smoke, or shoot Tar and be wired for hours. The crew made their rent through pizza delivery and drive-thru jobs. Saved enough to keep their habits up most months. They kept Victor from being homeless after he was kicked out. He didn’t need us. Then one evening last August, I was coming back from Mr. Gregor’s cellar. Victor ran up to me in the street. He was panting. Waving the arms of his winter coat. Uktena is small, but Victor had kept quiet. I hadn’t seen him in months. I was excited he was there. To know he hadn’t killed himself. I heard stories on the news of people in Oklahoma dying from overdoses. Some dope had been mixed with a drug for putting elephants to sleep. “Getting tall, my good man,” Victor said. “Bet the girls are going crazy.” Neither of these things were true. He was trying to warm me up. He went on to talk about how he was kicking his habit. How he knew a program that worked for a friend. He just needed a few dollars to join it. Told me once he was clean, he’d save up. Start looking at jobs out East. Go to one of the “Great American Cities.” After high school ended, he wanted me to leave with him. We’d get an apartment. Stay together. Like when we were kids. We’d pig out on craft beer and junk food. Invite over women we met at clubs and bars. Work out at gyms with rock climbing walls and karate classes.

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