Hustla

when my newly hired good friend, Doug, got to work tonight he had nine 7.5 tabs on him in a zip lock way too big for them.

he let me have them all for $30.

i paid him in cash and stuffed the pills in my pocket. i usually wait for half of my shift to be over before I take any. i get too run down too quick, if taken too soon.

somewhere in the first part of my shift a forty to maybe fifty year old black dude with a backwards tan flat cap and brown leather jacket came in offering real gold chain necklaces for cheap.

i was about to tell him he wasn't allowed to peddle his stuff here.

but Doug piped up.

"how much you sellin' em for?" he had a new girlfriend he was talking to, in that goofy into her part of the relationship.

"i'll sell you one for thirty dollas."

"i ain't got thirty on me." Doug lied.

"twenny then, i'll gi'you one for twenny." the dude offered.

"all i got on me is a ten and a five." Doug pushed.

"gimmie the ten."

my friend turned co-worker went int he back to rustle around in his jacket a moment. then came back with such honesty on his face.

"i was wrong. i just got a ten, an' i still gotta buy cigarettes."

his girl got that chain.