"Hello?"
"Alex, it's me, Catherine. Come home."
"Catherine...you know I can't-"
Brrrring. Brrrring.
I thought I answered the phone already....Oh, it was a dream..... Alex thought.
Brrrring. Brrrring.
"Alex?" said a familiar voice.
"Uuh?" Alex cleverly responded.
"Is it alright if me and Kara crash at your place for tonight?"
"Huh? Wait, what?" Alex said, realizing he was speaking to Jeremiah Taylor, "What's going on?"
"I'll tell you when we get up there."
"Okay, yeah sure." he said, "You can come on up."
"Thanks, man. I'll spill once I get up there, I've got a lot to tell you, man. I've got a whole lot to tell you."
Alex hung up the phone and turned on the lights, trying to wake up some and prepare for their arrival.
"Hey man," Taylor whispered.
"What's up?" Alex whispered back.
"Let me put Kara to bed first, then I'll tell you."
Alex led Taylor into his bedroom and left Kara safely to her dreams.
"Well...?" Alex whispered.
Taylor paused solemly, collecting his thoughts on an unhappy topic.
"Jerome got caught. I'd given him $33,000 for a once in a lifetime opportunity, Kara's tuition money...."
"What was this once in a lifetime opportunity?" Alex asked, already knowing the answer.
"Remember...I told you that some guy had called Tyrone from Bolivia and offered him a whole lot of coke really cheap and he needed me to chip in so he could get it. Like an idiot, I gave it to him...."
"Fuck man, I remember....did that dealer scam you?"
"No....it's worse. Tyrone got the coke, but got caught. Fucking police....I wonder who could've turned him in...? Those dumbasses couldn't've found it by chance...someone must've told...."
Alex sat in a guilty silence, hating himself for taking so much of his friend's money, money that was supposed to go to his little girl's tuition.
"Anyways," Taylor started up again, breaking the silence," I was heading over to Lu's Garage for a sell-"
"How do you know they got Tyrone? Maybe he ran into a little trouble, so he's taking a bit longer, nothing to worry about, he's just taking a while..."
"I saw him in the back of a fucking cop car!"
"Oh. Shit."
Two sat in silence, thoughts whirled around inside both of thier heads.
"Uh...so what happened? You said you went to Lu's Garage...?" Alex said, breaking the silence.
"Oh, yeah...so I was heading over there and I saw an undercover cop...big shiny SUV in the middle of the ghetto, what else could it be, right? Anyways, I ran and to the hole in the fence that led to the park and there was some kid cop standing in my way."
"What? A cop? What'd you do?" Cold understanding suddenly dawned on Alex.
"Well, I told him get out of the way, but he didn't, so...."
"You shot him?" Alex said, wishing he hadn't made absolutely sure, wishing he'd remained ignorant of the terrible crime his friend had committed.
"Yeah..."
"So that's what happened that night when I got Kara from school and you came home late?"
"Mhm"
Again the two shared a thoughtful silence.
