Herba: Once in, there's no way out.

by Arjun Kramadhati

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  All of a sudden, Rocky could hear voices. The household items around him were whispering to him. They were all calling out his name. There was no Natas around him. A chair next to him even tried to attack. They were all whispering in unison.

  ‘Rocky. Rocky. Rocky,’ they whispered.

  Rocky freaked out completely. He had no idea what was happening to him. He huddled himself into a corner. All the household items were moving towards him. The refrigerator door looked very dirty. The radio seemed to have repaired itself and was now looking for revenge. Rocky shouted and cried in disbelief. It was truly surreal. He had felt so much fear that he never knew existed in magnitude. He tried to hit himself as if trying to knock himself back into the reality. His eyes were bloodshot and his pupils were open as wide as it possibly could. He had not blinked for many hours. The adrenaline rush was just too much for his brain to handle and he was knocked out into a long sleep.

  Rocky spent the next two days in a deep and uninterrupted sleep. When he woke up with a heavy head, he noticed bloody scratch marks all over his body. The house was shabby and many things were broken. He was very dehydrated and felt weak. Rocky’s very first meth trip was an extremely bad trip. He decided never to smoke or snort meth ever again in his lifetime.

  The Proposal

  “There is no friendship in business. The wittiest, the shrewdest and the merciless thrive. The weak just wither.”

  Two weeks had since passed the horror trip from hell. Rocky and Natas had decided never try the horrible drug again. Rocky’s dad was now suspicious of Rocky’s recent activities. Rocky’s academic-run had steadily taken blows since his interests had shifted elsewhere. Arguments were regular between Rocky and his dad. The recent, breaking of items in the house was the tipping point for Rocky’s dad. Huge fights ensued and it dented his relationship with his dad. Rocky’s dad cut off all forms of pocket money that his son promptly used to receive every month. The house became silent and lifeless as the father and son relationship hit an all-time low.

  Natas and Rocky lay resting against the parapet on Rocky’s terrace, facing the setting sun. They were sharing a joint of weed. Rocky was not happy with the status quo.

  ‘I am having troubles at home,’ Rocky spoke in a dejected tone.

  ‘What happened?’ asked Natas, with the joint in his hand. He looked least concerned.

  ‘I am running out of cash to fund our activities. We can’t afford to smoke-up so much with so little money.’

  ‘I have started to fight with my dad a lot nowadays and I feel really bad about it,’ he continued, taking a puff from the joint they were sharing.

  ‘How are things at your home Natas?’ Rocky was curious.

  Rocky realized something and his eyes narrowed down.

  Natas kept quiet.

  ‘Oh man! Natas! I just realized that you have never spoken about your parents, about home or about your friends in fact. Nothing at all!,’ Rocky said, in a bewildered tone.

  ‘You know about them,’ mumbled Natas.

  ‘What did you say?’ Rocky asked with a confused face.

  There was no reply this time.

  ‘Okay, whatever, we need to come up with a plan to make money,’ said Rocky as he took a deep breath at the worrying task ahead of him.

  Natas was deep in thoughts, thinking hard on something.

  Rocky continued.

  ‘I need to mend my relationship with dad. I need to make him proud of me once again,’ Rocky looked down, sad at the state of his relationship with dad.

  ‘I know just the thing,’ said Natas, with a huge, naughty smile on his face. He put his hand on Rocky’s shoulder.

  ‘Well? What is it?’ Rocky stared at Natas, intently.

  Natas held out the almost empty joint and raised it high enough to catch the golden light of the setting sun.

  ‘This,’ he said.

  ‘This is it,’ he gave a brief pause to give a certain air of importance to the next sentence he was going to utter.

  ‘Let us sell these,’ Natas spoke confidently and slowly.

  The gentle golden light of the sun illuminated the burning joint.

  ‘What? No ways! Smoking up is one thing and selling pot is a different thing entirely! Are you out of your mind Natas?’ Rocky was aghast at the proposition.

  ‘You do realize the full set of consequences that such a business would bring along with it?’ Rocky asked the calm Natas, who had now resumed smoking.

  ‘You do realize how easy it is to mint money with this stuff? Once we have the money, we control everything. Because in the end, money controls everything,’ Natas replied, with a confidence that mimicked that of an already successful businessperson.

  ‘No, I can’t do this. If anything goes wrong, even by a whisker, we go straight to prison. Are you dumb or are you so high that you don’t see the point?’ Rocky’s frustration was growing. To see Natas so calm irked Rocky.

  ‘Live a little. What’s the point of an ordinary life?’ Natas tried to sound philosophical.

  ‘Shut up,’ said Rocky.

  ‘I know what has to be done. You don’t worry about the police, Rocky. You just have one important thing as of now,’ said Natas as he finished the joint.

  ‘What is it?’ Rocky was curious.

  ‘The other day, you told me about the ancestral gold watch that your father had been entrusted upon by your forefathers,’ said Natas as he turned his head to face Rocky’s curious gaze.

  ‘Yes, what about it?’ Rocky asked, narrowing his eyes with deep interest to know where Natas was going with this.

  ‘We’ll need it to...’ Natas was abruptly cut short.

  ‘You idiot! Forget about it,’ Rocky screamed.

  ‘I never expected you would propose such a thing,’ said Rocky as he stood up and walked away.

  ‘I assume you can find your way out,’ he added before going into his house.

  Many days went by and Natas was nowhere to be seen. Rocky wondered where Natas stayed and called as his home. Things were taking a turn towards the worse. Rocky’s studies had plummeted to an all time low. There was almost no communication between him and his dad. The house was lifeless. His body had become noticeably thin on account of the routine smoking-up.

  It had been six days, since Rocky had last smoked Marijuana. His body was aching for a puff of that heavenly white smoke. His body began to itch and Rocky became very restless. Nothing could make him concentrate. He wanted nothing but Marijuana. It was at this point that Rocky gave thought about what Natas had said. The human mind, once addicted to a ‘substance’, does literally anything to keep it going.

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  Wise men always ask us never to make decisions in times when the brain is under a lot of stress. But, I guess, wise men are never addicted to anything. Probably this is what made them wise in the first place.

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  ‘The need for money is real. Forget about the pocket money to buy weed, the need for some money around the house is definitely pressing. It is just one stupid old watch. I can sell it and invest the money to start a business. The money inflow would be huge and in no time, I can recover the investment and earn enough to move dad and me to a better locality. I have no future in academics now, that is for sure. This could be the only thing I am good at,’ said Rocky, quietly speaking to himself. Rocky’s mind was cooking up a clever cover up and a shallow excuse to get itself into the euphoric realm of Marijuana once again.

  After a few more silent hours, Rocky finally made up his mind.

  ‘Okay, let’s do it,’ he thought to himself.

  He got up from his bed with a sudden burst of energy at the thought of making money.

  It was three o’clock on a hot Wednesday afternoon when Rocky finally made up his mind about the risky adventure. Rocky’s dad was slaving away at the factory when Rocky left the house to sell the ancestral watch. There was a pawn store nearby whose owner was a goo
d family friend. Rocky went straight to the pawnshop.

  The pawnbroker knew Rocky’s dad from when they were both kids playing around on the hills studded throughout the city. They went to the only convent that there was in the city back then. They had grown up together. They had seen each other maturing into men ready to take on the world. They had seen the city’s rise and fall. They had been the best men to each other’s weddings. The broker had helped and supported Rocky’s dad through all of the hard years following the unexpected death of Rocky’s mother. His name was Alejandro. Although he had a very common South American name, his physical traits showed no normal characteristics. Alejandro was an abnormally tall man. His body was thin and showed no confidence in supporting his seven-foot structure. Every feature on him was blown up in size. His nose was bigger than normal. His hands and legs were gigantic. A tall, scary frame that he had surprisingly sported an enormously heartening smile.

  ‘Look who it is!’ Alejandro shouted.

  He was elated to see Rocky.

  He got up from his congested office inside the pawnshop to greet his best friend’s son. A huge smile appeared on his face when he walked towards Rocky.

  ‘Hello uncle. How have you been?’ Rocky shook hands with the giant of a man. It had been quite a while since he last met Alejandro.

  ‘I am hanging on as usual. How are you son? How is your dad?’ Alejandro patted the relatively short Rocky on his back.

  ‘Everything is fine, uncle,’ said Rocky, managing a smile on his face.

  ‘You have become thin!’

  Alejandro noticed the obvious weight loss in the otherwise well-built Rocky.

  ‘Lots to study nowadays. Stupid peer pressure,’ he replied with a giggle.

  Rocky knew very well about the weight reduction he had undergone in the recent past. It was because of the Marijuana.

  ‘Ha-ha, yes of course. Come, let us go inside and talk,’ Alejandro escorted Rocky into his office located in a corner of the pawn shop.

  The shop had a huge array of items. From historical stamps to vintage rifles, the shop had it all. As Rocky walked through the collection, he noticed a rack full of old watches. He smiled to himself. He had come to the right place to sell it. The two walked into a small room at the end of the shop. After the two were seated, Alejandro resumed speaking.

  ‘Now tell me. Can I get you something to eat?’ Alejandro spoke with an informal tone. He knew the boy from many years, there was no need to put on his usual serious tone.

  ‘No, uncle I am fine. Thanks,’ Rocky replied.

  ‘Okay then. How can I help you?’ said Alejandro.

  ‘I wanted to sell an old watch. I am planning to start a business and I need money for it,’ Rocky replied, anxious about the price he would get for the watch.

  ‘Oh! That is great. Show it to me,’ Alejandro suddenly became curious. He remembered Rocky’s dad mentioning about an ancestral watch long ago. He implored to god that it was the same watch Rocky would show.

  ‘Here it is,’ Rocky opened, from his bag, a box. The box did not look as old as Alejandro expected.

  He let down his expectations and went ahead to open the box. As he opened the box, Alejandro’s eyes saw exactly what it had wished to see moments ago. It was an old watch nestled inside the box. He could not control his sudden burst of excitement.

  ‘I will be right back,’ he said as he walked out of the office with the watch in his hand.

  Alejandro’s big hands were trembling with excitement. He could not believe his luck. He rushed out of his small office and into the counters where all the items were kept. He picked up his tiny hand-lens and examined the old watch. It was indeed the rare masterpiece that Alejandro had heard of. It was a collector’s edition 1880s Breitling with gold plated numeric. It was not battery operated, but had to be wound to run it. As expected.

  It is said that every man has his price. Every stern principle has a toppling point. Every friendship has a value. Nowhere else was it more valid than in this case. Alejandro thought hard over this deal. The watch was worth a fortune. He ran over all his memories with Rocky’s dad. All the friendship that had been forged over the years now balanced precariously on the borders of Alejandro’s ethical limits. He realized, very well, that if the deal were to be made, this was the end of the long lasting friendship. However, the fortune that the watch was worth was enough to suppress all sorts of moral protests that his brain was staging. Alejandro went back into the office with a firm decision.

  After a quick round of bargaining, Rocky settled to sell the watch at thirty thousand pesos. Rocky agreed to let go of another five thousand on the contingency that the shopkeeper would not shed light about this deal to Rocky’s dad. As Rocky left the shop, the shopkeeper smiled. Because he knew something that poor little Rocky did not. He knew that the watch was worth a way lot more in the auction houses. Just like that, Rocky had gotten rid of a family asset and a family legacy at a throw away price.

  There is no friendship in business. The wittiest, the shrewdest and the merciless thrive. The weak just wither.

  A proud Rocky walked away from the store, proud of the fact that he had got a good price for the dull old watch. The only thing now left was to find Natas. Rocky never got to know anything about Natas’s background. He knew nothing about his parents. He knew nothing about where he stayed. Not knowing what to do, Rocky decided to watch a game of football in the field nearby, until he had come up with a plan to find this mysterious friend of his. Rocky walked to the field and sat in an isolated seat and started observing the local kids play.

  How happy they were when they were playing. The field knew no worries. The field knew no sadness. The field was the one place that made everyone happy, always. Rocky’s body suddenly longed to play a game of football. Unfortunately, there was a hard truth to face. His body was not the same as it was before. It was weak now. Weak from the aberrant use of Marijuana. He had neither the stamina nor the strength to keep goals. It saddened him a bit.

  Just when his thoughts were to go deeper into where his life was heading, it was interrupted by a familiar voice.

  ‘Hello, my friend.’

  A visibly surprised Rocky turned and looked at Natas, standing right behind him. A brief moment of silence ensued.

  Rocky couldn’t figure out how Natas had turned up exactly when Rocky needed him to. This was strange. Natas always seem to cut right through Rocky’s occasional deep thoughts.

  ‘How did you find me?’ Rocky asked, with a serious tone. He wanted answers.

  ‘How have you been?’ Natas replied in his usual carefree tone, deliberately avoiding the question.

  ‘Seriously? Are you going to do this every single time? Avoiding questions,’ Rocky was irked by Natas’s no-share policy on his personal life.

  ‘Ha-ha, peace out brother,’ Natas chuckled naughtily.

  ‘I don’t know about you, but I consider you my friend. I guess you should too,’ Rocky looked away towards the football field and spoke.

  Natas sat down next to Rocky and hmmed loudly.

  ‘Okay, here you go,’ he said, pointing his hand towards the field.

  ‘I live around this field. This is my home,’ Natas spoke.

  Rocky turned around and looked at Natas in shock.

  ‘You live here?’ Rocky was boggled.

  ‘Yup. Home sweet home, eh?’ Natas managed a smile.

  Natas pointed to a cluster of huts on the far end of the field. There were about six huts huddled close to each other. Made of scrap construction leftovers and polyester sheets, they looked quite weak.

  ‘I live in the hut in the centre of that cluster,’ he said, pointing to a small shack in the middle with a red polyester sheet on top of it.

  Rocky stared at it in silence. It was relatively small but it stood out from the rest of the huts because of its odd colour. Rocky felt sad for his friend.

  ‘I have no parents, Rocky. You are the only person I can truly trust and this is the only place
I can call home,’ he added.

  ‘Natas! Why dint you tell this earlier? You could have stayed with me in my house!’ Rocky felt a sudden spurt of sympathy toward his lonely friend.

  Natas did not say anything back, he looked away at the kids playing on the field.

  ‘From now on, you are going to stay with me in my house. Okay?’ Rocky asked, expecting a quick yes from Natas.

  ‘Okay Rocky,’ Natas wore a huge smile on his face.

  ‘Good,’ Rocky said and added, ‘I am sorry about the other day. I did not mean to hurt your feelings. Hope we both choose to forget about it and think about building a business.’

  ‘Agreed’

  Natas blurted it out so ignorantly that it sounded as though he knew, beforehand, very well about Rocky’s timely return.

  The beauty of a friendship between two boys is in the shortness of the emotions.

  ‘Do you want a joint?’ Natas asked, knowing the obvious reply from Rocky.

  Thus, the two sat near the field, smoking up a joint and watching a game of football.

  ‘It is funny how we met, Rocky. It was in this very field remember?’

  ‘Oh yes! I remember. You were there when I opened my eyes after the ball hit me. Kind of like the movies. Funny way to meet,’ he replied.

  ‘Natas, we need to plan out our business now. I have the cash with me, let us use it diligently,’ said Rocky.

  ‘Yes we shall, my friend, yes we shall,’ uttered Natas with a dramatic tone, leaving a white smoke ring up into the sky.

  ‘So what do we do now?’ Rocky asked.

  ‘We are going to the Colombian jungles my friend,’ Natas sounded triumphant.

  ‘Damn!’ Rocky was bewildered at the sudden enormity of the plan.

  ‘Why the Colombian jungles?’ he asked.