JIMMY

Posted by Slarti

Wednesday, March 23 2:54 p.m.

Jimmy awakened to the sound of the neighbor’s lawn mower. “What the heck are they doing home today?” he thought. He rolled over, squinting at the clock radio. Slowly he became conscious of the pounding in his head. It matched the beat of his heart. He settled back, seeking solace in the covers, his head filling with images, some of which seemed to coalesce and float across the red light of his closed eyelids.

Along with the visions, a voice from the past.

"Yea, this trash is great... well, except for smelling like toe cheese. That's 'cause we thought we were going to sell some to this kid down behind the Little Cricket on Beattie Street, Jermaine a.k.a. The Tire Boy, a ten year old kid who steals tires, hubcaps, and anything inside an unlocked car to support his habit -- that’s one industrious kid, and I am keeping my eye on him because he could prove to be a potential rivalry who I will have to run out of the trailer park, like I did his older sister, when she tried to bring in her own crank from those high-falutin preps from the high school -- all those jerks think that they’re better than us just because they’re mom and dads work in town in some office and they all live in the Chanticleer subdivision. I say, hell no, we got our own meth-mouths to support."

The toothless face leers for just a moment before it erupts into a bloody mist. The sound of a bullet so real that it could have happened right in the very room.

His eyes flew open. Desperately he scrubbed at them, wishing the images and noise out of his head. He sat up and reached for the … water… resting by his bed. He sipped it distastefully, much of it dribbling down the side of his face. He didn’t want to get up, but knew that he should. School would be getting out soon, and he needed to pick up Gracie. He also needed to do a few things around the house before Kathy got home. He didn’t want to cook, so it would be fast food tonight.

The thudding pound in his chest grew more pronounced standing erect. Then the pain began.