‘I have had enough of it. I don’t wish to see my dad so dejected any more. Likewise, I hate to see you people so lacking in worldly entertainment. I hate to see people working for other’s dreams and goals. Now, before you start raising eyebrows, let me tell you why weed is not bad for the health...’
Few of the people began to get nervous at the thought of Marijuana.
‘Cannabis is a great gift that you give your body. It fights depression more effortlessly than the pills that are usually prescribed. It kills migraines in an instant. Marijuana is the best painkiller you can ever find. One can never die from Marijuana over dosage unlike Heroin....It is in fact, healthier than alcohol!..” He went on listing a long line of all the good the weed stood for.
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One of the last statements was particularly true. Scientifically, if you inhale three puffs of Marijuana smoke and get high, then you would have to take 1,20,000 puffs of Marijuana smoke to get yourself killed.
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While Natas continued to brainwash the poor folks, Rocky was ready with the small, sample joints. He finished by rolling the paper over the filter tip and squishing the front end to a pointed tip. It now looked partially like a cigarette but with a sharp tip. He passed around the eight joints and lit them with a lighter.
‘Try it out, it just takes a few puffs to see paradise,’ he said and signaled Rocky to prepare a joint for him and Rocky. The older folks had heard of this magical herb all their life but had never tried it because of the social stigma associated with it. Now, all that did not matter and they were far away from the judgmental eyes of the society. They decided to try it out. They were being promised a brief glimpse of heaven free of cost. Why the hell not?
It took a while for the THC to hit the eight unsuspecting people, but when it did hit them, they were completely taken off the ground. During their slow, boring lifetime, they had resorted to drinking and smoking tobacco to soothe out their hardship, but this was by far the most colorful remedy to their grey problems.
While the eight people hopped onto roller coaster rides on rainbows over fields of marigold flowers. Natas and Rocky were curious to test the stuff they had grown. Was it better than the stuff available elsewhere? After a few puffs of it, Natas and Rocky had no doubt in their minds. It was undoubtedly the best stuff they had ever smoked-up. The quality could be partially compared to the actual godly plantations in the Colombian jungles. The purity and richness of the THC could almost be felt dancing around in their blood.
And that was that, the eight people had just experienced a side of the world that they never thought they would. They were deep in the kaleidoscopic world of Cannabis. One small joint had managed to bring them an enormous amount of happiness and make them forget the peace-shattering issues back at home. The high was better and smoother than any alcohol that they had consumed. Adding to that, the Marijuana seemed to boast of almost no bad side effects. They wanted more of it. They kicked themselves in their minds for not having tried it earlier.
Cannabis showed them no sadness. It showed them a world full of happiness. A world devoid of the restless and merciless slaughter of dreams. A world full of candies and toy trains. An ocean of laughter and a color filled sky. They wanted more of it. They would certainly tell their colleagues about it.
Thus, the business blossomed. The money started flowing in. More and more workers came to know of it and bought scores and scores of joints to share with their friends. What started out with eight customers now had one hundred and thirty repetitive customers. Most of them were workers of the garment factory. The same factory that Rocky’s dad worked in. The demand had exceeded their wildest expectations. People began to buy this new product rather than the usual stuff that was being sold elsewhere in the city. Word had gotten out that there was a new stuff in the city, stuff that was better than anything the dull city had ever smoked up.
Money came in through two channels. One was the direct selling, priced gram-wise. Rocky and Natas would carry backpacks of their high quality Marijuana and roam the streets of the downtown discreetly selling the stuff. The other channel was the original channel. People would hike up the hill, buy the stuff and smoke-up, enjoying the scenery that the hill boasted of.
Very soon, Rocky and Natas were forced to move their weed cultivation away from the hilltop. They feared that cops would easily get scent of it. They decided to stick only to the direct selling method. However, this did not stop people from going to the hill to smoke the magic weed. They would buy the stuff from Natas and Rocky, who were selling on the streets, and hike up the hill to smoke-up. And thus, a name started to circle around the local weed community. A name for their favourite hill with their favourite view. The perfect place to smoke-up the perfect Cannabis. The hill came to be known as Stoner Hill.
One night, Natas, Rocky and his dad were having a quiet dinner in the house. The table was predominantly silent. Rocky’s dad suddenly broke the silence.
‘How is the clothing venture of yours coming up?’
His dad spoke seriously, without making any eye contact.
‘It is good, dad. We managed to secure a dealer from Colombia. It’s all good,’ replied Rocky, sounding like an innocent child in front of his dad.
‘Hmm,’ his dad let out a long breath. He was disappointed that Rocky had suddenly lost all traction in academics.
A long silence ensued. No one spoke. All the three at the table had their heads down, looking at their respective dinner plates.
Rocky’s dad spoke again.
‘Stop going to that hill of yours,’ he said.
Rocky was confused. What was his dad talking about suddenly?
‘Which hill, dad?’ Rocky asked, worried about where the conversation was leading.
‘The one you often trek on,’ he replied.
The first time during dinner, his dad made eye contact with Rocky.
‘Why?’ Rocky was really bewildered.
‘It seems that there is a new gang on the hill which grows and sells Marijuana. Do not go near that hill again,’ he ascertained his order with a firm tone.
‘Yes, dad,’ replied Rocky.
Rocky looked at Natas slyly and smiled.
That was a narrow escape.
Herba
“She looked like the godly South American angels that the mythical texts spoke about. Rocky froze. He could not feel any of his limbs.”
After the explosion of demand for their product, Rocky and Natas faced a severe lack of man power. The two, with their small patch for cultivation was nowhere near capable to meet the tall pillar of demand they had created for their product. Adding to this, the hill top could no longer be the cultivation place because of obvious security reasons. Just like most ‘initially’ successful start-ups, they had made a serious rookie mistake. They had not foreseen and planned for the rise in demand or maybe they were just too ignorant. They had about a kilogram of Cannabis left to sell.
‘Let us go up Stoner Hill,’ Natas said.
‘For what joy?’ Rocky was curious.
It had been a while since Rocky and Natas visited that place. Since then, clans had started to pop-up on Stoner Hill and the adjoining hills. It had become a trend for the local teens to join the clans, all thanks to the stimuli given by Natas’s brainwashing. People would ‘score’ weed from Rocky or Natas and smoke them up with the clan members up on the hills. With a sense of justification and pride that weed is cool and it would do no harm to one’s body, the trend was going nowhere but up. The Western movies and social media only reinforced this feeling in the teens.
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Whether Marijuana is good or bad for the health is a huge debate that has been raging strong all over the world. Although both sides of the debate hold equal merit and credibility, one thing remains true. The fact that Marijuana was a gateway drug which exposed users to far more vicious narcotics.
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This was
exactly what Natas was hoping to cash in on. He just had to wait until the teens and the working folks were addicted and brainwashed enough to the sugary world of narcotics.
‘We need a place to grow our weed and a place to start cooking meth,’ Natas replied casually, hoping Rocky would not kick up any fuss about the indirect proposal to start the meth business. And just like Natas wanted, Rocky did not shoot a thousand questions, asking him about the meth business. Instead, Rocky just replied, ‘and how will going up the hill, solve that problem?’
Rocky, by now, knew that it was useless to question Natas about any of his plans. So, Rocky just let the news sink in. The news that they would be entering into the Meth business.
‘It may or it may not. There are a lot of members, I hear, in the clans in and around Stoner Hill. We can strike a conversation with some of them and hope to get some leads on good isolated places,’ he replied.
And so, the two started the small trek up the hill. The trek was strangely arduous. The abnormally excessive amounts of weed they had smoked up regularly over the past many months had started to affect their body. As Rocky struggled to climb up, little did he know that in a few moments he would be struck with a lightning bolt shot by the Lord Himself. After a slow 40 minutes, the two reached the top. Rocky could barely catch his breath.
‘You go ahead, I’ll catch up in a bit,’ Rocky said, as he managed to sit on a rock.
From where he sat, he could see Natas walking up to the clan. “How the hell is Natas not tired?” Rocky wondered. He could see around six people sitting in a circle around a small fire. The sun was setting and it was becoming cold and windy. Rocky smiled to himself when he thought about how far he and Natas had come with their business.
The members rose to stand up as they saw Natas walking towards them. They knew Natas very well. He was the legend, he was the hero and he was the person who showed them heaven on earth. As Rocky watched on intently, his attention was deviated towards a girl. The girl had just stood up and the evening’s golden sunlight fell on her face.
Standing at around five and a half feet, it was as though the golden light was there just for her. It was as though the Sun God had lit only her face as a mark of respect to the rare masterpiece of the Sculptor who sculpted the heavenly beauty. The girl had a brisk athletic frame augmented with jet black curly hair caressing her gentle shoulders. The curves on her body looked gentler than the smooth surface of melting butter. She looked like the godly South American angels that the mythical texts spoke about. Rocky froze. He could not feel any of his limbs. For a few moments, Rocky felt he was dreaming. He felt like a jolt of lighting had just struck him. No amount of Marijuana had ever bowled him over this much. With the sudden burst of a certain manly energy, he somehow managed to stand up and started walking towards the clan, with eyes locked firmly on the divine entity he had just been blessed to cast his eyes on. All of the clans in and around the hills knew about Natas. He was the father of all the clans that had sprung up. Contrastingly, no one knew much about Rocky. They saw Rocky as the one person who always tagged along with Natas. Blindly playing along to the commands of Natas the puppeteer.
The clan saw how paralyzed Rocky had become when he saw the girl. They mocked Rocky as he entered the clan area.
‘Let us call him Rocky from now. He literally became a rock when he saw Herba!’ One of the members spoke ecstatically. The clan burst into laughter.
Even the silliest joke makes you laugh when you are under the effect of Cannabis.
Rocky was too dumbfounded to react. All the nerve cells in his brain were busy processing the sudden turn of events. He was nervous about talking to her. Rocky was never comfortable around girls. Natas was.
‘Hi, I am Herba,’ the girl spoke as she extended her hand out for a handshake. The girl’s eyes were bloodshot due to the Cannabis she had just smoked up.
Rocky was pleasantly surprised.
‘....My ah..name is..ah...’ Rocky became very nervous and started stammering.
‘Yes, I know. You are Rocky. Ha-ha,’ she said, laughing uncontrollably. She was high like the rest of them.
‘Yes,’ Rocky said, with a shy smile. He cursed himself for being such a sheepish character in front of girls.
Rocky decided to smoke-up before embarrassing himself any more in front of such an unearthly beauty. Rocky and Natas smoked up the weed that they grew. The stuff was prodigious as usual.
The THC gave him a burst of doughty courage to talk freely. Rocky’s body relaxed and showed a calm and confident semblance.
‘So what is your real name?’ he spoke freely and confidently.
Herba was restlessly shuffling about with joy as did every other clan member who was under the influence of the herb. Rocky and Natas, however, were totally used to the constant high by the Marijuana on account of their incessant smoking, day in and day out. They were, obviously, Marijuana addicts. They sat, stable.
‘Herba! What’s your name?’ Rocky raised his tone politely enough to bring the question into Herba’s fragile attention.
‘Eh? I am Herba. Herba. Herba,’ she laughed hysterically.
Rocky realized that it was useless asking her any questions. She was obviously a new user of Marijuana. She had all the enthusiasm and excitement of an amateur stoner in contrast to the mundane outlook of an adept stoner.
‘Where do you live?’ he asked, sounding very formal.
He had not the slightest idea how to talk cool.
Herba’s face became a bit sad. She suddenly seemed to be hit with a wave of tragic memories. Rocky quickly realized his mistake and attempted to crack a joke to ease the situation. It worked. The fragile attention of the stoned Herba’s mind was quickly brought back to happiness.
Rocky continued his desperate mission to woo the girl with jokes. He cracked jokes to which the whole clan, including Herba, laughed and played along. Rocky could not help but notice the angelic laugh that Herba had. He could spend an eternity just looking at that. Herba was too lost in the mazes of the weed-trip to notice the spell-bound human staring at her. Time went by very fast under the influence of the herb and it was soon pitch dark all around. The clan members were all sound asleep around the fire they had lit. It was around nine in the night when Rocky and Natas decided to descend the hill and head home. Rocky glanced upon Herba one last time before he left. Even while sleeping, the girl managed to look truly angelic. He decided to visit Stoner Hill very frequently to get a glimpse of her radiance.
As the two descended the hill, Rocky suddenly recollected something. The high from the weed had faded away and both of them were in their normal senses.
Rocky asked Natas.
‘What about the place to grow our stuff? We did not talk to anyone about it,’ he said to Natas.
Almost immediately, Natas replied.
‘Herba said she has a place that she thinks would suit such operations. She wants to show it to us first thing tomorrow,’ Natas replied with an excited tone.
‘When did you talk to her? I was smoking up right next to her and I never saw you talking to her,’ Rocky was perplexed. He didn’t recollect anyone talking to her while he was next to her.
‘Maybe you were too high and wasted to even notice,’ he chuckled at Rocky’s ignorance. Rocky’s confusions were dwarfed by the excitement of the thought of meeting her the nest day.
That night, Rocky could barely get sleep. He could not stop thinking about Herba. He was too excited about meeting her the next day. He tossed and turned on the bed not able to stop thinking about her rare blue eyes.
It was a fine Friday morning, the next day. Rocky and Natas had woken up early. They were both staying in Rocky’s house. Rocky had somehow convinced his dad that he had successfully opened the clothing outlet. Rocky’s dad was secretly proud about that. He never expected Rocky to actually stick to his word and open a company.
Rocky packed some cloths into a backpack and waved goodbye to his dad.
‘I will be back in a c
ouple of months,’ he shouted as he hurried along the doorway. His dad waved back with mixed feelings.
‘Need to take care of the company,’ Rocky said as he disappeared from his dad’s-view.
‘Take care, son,’ he mumbled, not intending it to be heard by Rocky.
The two left the house early and proceeded to a meeting point previously decided by Herba. They drove in Natas’s car. It really did look a lot like the car Rocky’s dad owned. They met Herba near a gas station in the centre of the city. Herba looked gorgeous than ever before. Rocky was elated to meet her. The trio then travelled for about an hour towards the northern outskirts of the city. All throughout the journey, Rocky stole long, secret glances at Herba. They finally arrived at the place after an uneventful car journey. The terrain was rough and heavily forested. There were very few houses in and around the area. The car had to be stopped at a certain point because the terrain was just too rugged for the old car to handle.
The three stood in front of a long line of trees.
‘Where is the place?’ Rocky asked.
‘It is a twenty-minute hike from here,’ she replied.
The three started hiking through the rough and jagged terrain. It was thick forest and had almost no human presence around. Rocky was exhausted at the slightest physical work. After a twenty-minute hike, they arrived at a clearing about the size of a football field. At the centre of the clearing was an old, creepy house. It lay alone amidst the engulfing forest. The house was crumbling on all fronts and looked a lot like it belonged on the sets of a Hollywood-horror movie.
‘Damn!’ Natas exclaimed as his eyes fell on the house.
‘Oh my god!’ Rocky followed suit.
Herba laughed and lead the way into the house.
It was perfect for their operation. The front clearing and wide space was ideal for growing Marijuana and the house was almost too ideal for cooking meth. The isolation of the house meant that no one would take note of the fowl smelling and toxic fumes that were emitted while cooking meth. No one would, also, notice the smell when the Marijuana plant started to mature. They quickly went in to inspect the creepy house.
Herba: Once in, there's no way out. Page 5