“Oh my God” she said to herself. “They know these people have the worst insurance and that this medicine doesn’t cost but five dollars” The medicine was certainly unlike anything she had heard of. With her brother-in-law Calvin being a pharmacist, she decided that she’d ask him the following morning. As the clock read close to two PM, she took down about 50 mg melatonin and sat up for about 15 minutes before going to bed. The following morning was a struggle to wake up. Hitting the snooze button a total of three times before giving in to the demand of the alarm she grabbed a sleeveless dress and a pit of heels and headed to work. At work her colleague noticed her and asked if she was alright.
“Long night” she responded “dealing with a little insomnia.”
“I’m doing a breakfast run, you want anything?”
“Yeah, get me a parfait?”
“Got it”
Needing to wake up she decided to splash her face with cold water. Afterward she decided to read over some briefs stacked on her desk.
Concurrently, QJ still slightly ill, stayed home for a second day. Feeling better he ate his breakfast and then put a movie on. After watching the movie he noticed his dad looking at a scrapbook.
“Hey dad, what you checking out?”
“Photo Album. That’s your Aunt Dina when she was younger”
QJ hasn’t seen them in a while. Unlike Deja’s family, Quincy’s family was a bit more close knit with the exception of a few. His aunts all go back home for Holidays and his siblings made occasional summer vacations out to LA to visit him so the kids are familiar with the closest cousins on that side. OTOH, they have cousins whom they have not met through their great aunts and uncles.
“Whoa, never knew her hair was so long. So dad. What about your people?”
Quincy’s dad, is originally from Jennings. His grandfather grew up in the Carolinas and found his way down to Louisiana via being stationed while in the military. This is where he met Quincy’s grandmother. Her people were from South Carolina however, her parents settled in the Jeff Davis Parish in Elton. His parents passed away around the time Quincys dad was born. Her parents had gotten ill so she had to move to the Jeff Davis Parish. They were craftsman and welders. His uncle grew fruits and vegetables and sold fruit preserves during certain times of the year. They eventually settled in Jennings and started a family.
Noticing the air force uniform QJ said, “I didn’t know grandpa was in the service.”
“He wasn’t that’s your great grandfather”
Travis was in the military stationed in Lake Charles at the time when he met Janice. She was from the Jefferson Davis Parish but would come into town to LC for shopping and recreation. They settled in Jennings after the death of her parents. He had a long career in the military retiring when Quincy’s father turned 16.
“So when you would leave, would you go see them?”
“If I was close enough yes, I haven’t been to Jennings in a few years. My grandparents are deceased but I I have atleast one uncle and aunt still out there that I know of. Growing up we would go down to Jennings but then spend our days with Uncle Hal in Lake Arthur”
Cutting the conversation short when he received a phone call QJ went back to his room.
“That was the school, I’m going to go pick up your homework. You stay out, I don’t wanna come home and see you done burned the damn house down.”
“Really, dad?”
“I’ll be right back son”
He arrived to the school and once he made his way to the front office he asked to retrieve QJs homework from the office Secretary when he was informed of an outbreak that had occurred on the school ground.
“No surprise unfortunately” the secretary said as she handed Quincy the assignments. “It happens when a parent or parents sends their child to school sick knowingly or unknowingly”.
“Well damn. I sure do appreciate the info”
“Quincy’s a good kid. How’s he feeling today?”
“He’s fine. He’ll be back tomorrow”
“Good”
“Well I’m gonna head out, you try not to catch it”
“Lysol and Clorox wipes are right here”
When he returned home, he noticed Junior up and dressed, he sported a red collar shirt and a pair of denim shorts.
“Well somebody is feeling way better”
“Oh yeah, think it’s about gone” QJ said as he struggled to find anything on TV
“Well son, it turns out that whatever the hell this is is going around at your school. There was hardly anybody in the office just now. Was told they were out sick.”
He then said, “we are going to go to the library. That’ll give you a little quite time to work on your homework. That way when you come home this evening, you can watch TV or play video games freely as your work will have been completed.”
Deciding to take a shower, he momentarily paused when he received an alert from a black news source titled “the trance drug-another Black Plague”.
[Axdroidare-a medicine being marketed as a cheaper version of Vyvanse has been reported as being responsible for 17 cases of Illnesses in lower income black and Latino communities. While no deaths have been reported as of yet, it has been reported that this drug is causing kids to become very motionless, unable to focus even though the drug was market to help with focus, and even difficulty sleeping. “My son was in a 9 hour state of hypnosis” reported one mother. Physical symptoms also included stomach cramps, nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting. One mother reported that this drug was so stringent that her son had no response to any outside stimuli. Haven’t you noticed that it’s always little boys that they want to dope up or “tame”?…………………]
Reading the same article Anita begin to pose an outline of a survey to do some of her own research. In her mind she would ask Clarissa to advertise it on her podcast and have individuals submit it anonymously. As she begin to type the first question, she received a knock on the door.
“Come in”
It was her boss asking for the briefs that she prepared on the case. “Here it is”. She expressed concerns about the companies history when her boss advised her that it wasn’t her place.
Being the strong willed individual she continued what she was doing in between breaks from her work. By the evening she had a survey complete along with preparation for another case that she was in the process of handling.
Before she left she sent a message to Clarissa who was on the phone with Deja.
Later that evening Deja and Quincy were talking while he asked her about her day.
“Busy, essays, exams, typical school stuff”
“Well I got an alert about this drug that’s being passed around in school. You know anything?”
He forwarded the article to her for her to read, she glanced over it as she got comfortable and stated that she had not heard anything about it. “Oh my God! No cases at my place of employment yet. I’ll have to ask the kids if they’ve heard anything about this”
“It’s only a matter of time” Quincy said turning the TV on to watch a news story on the very subject. “The way these teens abuse drugs out here. That’s how it goes. They flood that bullshit in black communities then it backfires. Watch what happens when the adverse effects hit the white communities and their kids are strung out on it. It’ll be considered an ‘epidemic’”.
Listening to the news it became apparent that the drug has plagued specific schools in South Central, Compton, Maywood, and East Los Angels. The reporter reported on the beginning of the lawsuit against the pharmaceutical company. When they heard the firm that would be representing them Quincy said “Oh shit! Isn’t that the firm that your sister works for?”
“It is” Deja said, “I need to call her. I’ll call her this week, I need to cook start typing my quiz.”
“Okay, well I’m gonna cook supper. Gonna cook a beef stew” he said.
Meanwhile, Malachi and Aundrea were working on ELA homework.
“So what’s the latest on the book report?”
“Just about done. Due Friday.”
“These last couple of weeks have been kind of crazy huh?”
“Why?”
“Meeting our folks, got mom on one of her projects”
“Yep”
“You know she’s talking about sending us down there for a couple of weeks next summer right? Could be an adventure. Connected with our cousin in Baton Rouge”
“Yeah….we need to get this done, I still got this book report to finish” Aundrea said unenthusiastically
“I might be able to help you finish it up. I’ve checked that book out dozens”
“Why am I not surprised?”
After finishing her homework, she went to work on the final draft of her post. She typed for about an hour before dinner was ready. At dinner that’s when Quincy decided to break the ice.
“Have the two seen any drugs on campus?”
“Ummmm I don’t think so” Aundrea said wondering where this question from.
“There’s a drug out there being passed off as Ritalin.” Deja said, “But it’s making these kids very ill”
“I haven’t heard about anything” Malachi stated.
“What’s going on?” Aundrea asked
“This medicine is getting to kids around your age. Mainly urban schools. It’s our job as parents to ask this stuff” Quincy affirmed.
Switching the conversation over to the cookbook, Deja announced that her book would be released at the end of October.
“Sweet!” Malachi exclaimed, “You gonna make some deserts for is?”
“Yeah, gonna get you guys in the kitchen. The three of you are going to learn how to make them. Your great grandmother made a mean sweet potato pie. That’s how your aunt Anna learned to make it. She passed it on to me”
“So this book includes her recipes?” Aundrea asked
“A combination of those and some of my own deserts”
“You mean like the cream cheese frosting that you put on the cake you make around Halloween?”
“Yes”
After eating supper Aundrea resumed typing the rest of her book report. QJ resumed studying his spelling words while Malachi completed a math assignment. Quincy retired to the bed while Deja sat on the sofa with her laptop and began a new paragraph in her book about connecting with her first cousin who had been in Long Beach since childhood. It was through a conversation over coffee that she was informed by her sister of the news. Growing up, she rarely visited Long Beach and she wondered if her cousin ever visited LA growing up. While typing she got a text
“So how’d the word get out?”
“Classmate who knows this kid.”
“Oh God. Girl were the drugs this bad when we were in school?”
“Yes, unfortunately it was our generations bullshit that resulted in all these damn drug dogs at the schools.”
Deja sat there nodding her head while working on an outline, ending the conversation when Aundrea came in asking for feedback on her essay.
“My bookworm of a brother kind of helped me finish”
They read over it a bit. Preparing the report to the outline and the rubric she had stuffed in her novel. “I have to say that I’m impressed. Why is it that you don’t like school again?”
“I wouldn’t say that I dislike it, but I’m not in love with it like he is”
“Well you’ve always been one that when you put your mind to something, you got it done. You do what you need to do to get things done. I’m very much proud. This is really good!”
As Drea headed back to her room, Deja returned to the subject discussed at supper time.
“Zach had a student at his school rushed to the ER this afternoon after getting a hold to it. You know not to take anything from anyone. Just because something looks like fun or candy doesn’t mean that that’s what it is. Being honest, letting QJ go to that sleep over was scary for both of us. Growing yo we rarely went to parties and such for reasons such as this. You do know better than to take any drink from anyone right?”
“Yeah mom” Aundrea said. “Good night”
Deja sighed “between the outbreak at Juniors school and these damn medications, I worry. I’m a mom it’s my job. As time goes by, you may find yourself getting invites to parties and the like and in the event that you go, you can’t afford to be naive”.
After this bit of wisdom, she resumed her writing.
TO BE CONTINUED WITH EPISODE 21.
No comments:
Post a Comment