In the end, when it had all come to light, it turned out that West Virginia had the highest drug overdose death rate in the entire United States, more tan two times the national average and reaching a total of almost fifty thousand people. It was a real, honest to goodness massacre. All orchestrated by the big pharmaceutical giants. Mingo County, home to the once lovely little town of Kermit, suffered the hardest hits of all West Virginia. It had the fourth highest rate of prescription drug overdose deaths of all counties in the U.S. To think, a town of not even four hundred suffering such tragedy. When the numbers were crunched, there were 433 pills per resident shipped to Mingo County, and not all of those residents were even adults. It was a staggering betrayal of goodness and honesty in favor of greed and a quick dollar.
Best Health Pharmaceuticals settled the issue in court, issuing a significant sum of money. But who that money actually went to was not clear. It certainly did not go into the pockets of men like Grandpa Jerry. A lot of it went towards efforts to clean up the drug problem. Massive billboards throughout the state advertising for methadone clinics. Public service announcements on the dangers of prescription drugs. Needle exchange programs. Even low budget funeral homes. But that did not fix the issue. Even though the oxycodone was gone, the heroin stayed. The epidemic that Best Health had started could not be easily cleaned up. The city of Huntington experienced thirty heroin overdoses in a single day. Almost a fifth of the large city's population was addicted to some form of opiate, and yearly death tolls were in the hundreds. And despite all the money that Best Health paid out settling their lawsuit, they ended up making a lot of it back. Buprenophrine was prescribed as a good therapy for heroin or oxycodone addiction. It was supposed to relieve the symptoms of withdrawal and combat the craving for dope without providing any euphoria that could lead to addiction. Of course, once a dope fiend always a dope fiend and euphoria or not, the people of West Virginia were consuming large amounts of buprenophrine. And guess who manufactured that drug? None other than Best Health Pharmaceuticals, of course.
Perhaps the saddest part of the epidemic was the number of children who became orphans when their parents died of an overdose. Children like the three sweet babies Loretta had become a foster mother too. There was a huge jump in the number of kids entering foster care, their number reaching over five thousand. Some of the kids were just babies and would forget all about it. For others, their minds would never forget the horrors they had witnessed. The older ones often turned to the same drugs that had killed their parents in order to cope with the pain and emptiness they felt. The younger ones showed more promise, responding well to interventions at their schools and promising to live a clean, drug free life and to work hard to make something of themselves so they could have a bright future and children of their own one day.
Harriet was not done helping the situation, and she decided to found a school in Kermit for the children who had been devastated by the opioid epidemic. She realized there was no way she could save the United States from drug abuse, and the current system was too corrupt to enact any sort of real punishment on the pharmaceutical companies like Best Health. But at least she could help one town. In addition to the wonderful school she set up, which flew in top notch teachers from around the world to counsel and teach the children so they could make a better life for themselves, she also set up an internet company. It would employ all the locals who had been fired from their jobs because of their addictions and provide them with high quality drug rehabilitation programs. Harriet knew from experience that joblessness led to drug abuse, and she knew if she could keep the money flowing and the work life enjoyable then these people would have a much better shot at staying clean.
For those who went along with the program, Harriet developed a luxury living community. There were dozens of foster families now living in brand new homes, taking care of their children with the support of many counselors and advisors. There was good recreation. The community was gated and there was strict security to ensure that no drugs entered the community and tainted it. The residents were also subject to drug screening and if they failed there would be a kind intervention. Things were going great, lives were really turning around. Beth had decided to stay behind. During her time in Apple Grove, Loretta had been a real source of comfort to her. She fell in love with Loretta's maternal care and she decided to live in the new development with Loretta and the three kids under her care. They even adopted a fourth: a young infant boy who had been born to a drug addict mother. They experienced the pain together as he went through intense treatments in the NICU withdrawing from heroin. But now he was healthy and a happy member of their family.
As for Grandpa Jerry, he did not want to be part of some fancy schmancy community, and he was too proud to enter some regimented rehab program. Harriet and Debbie helped fund the rebuilding of his home, back on his old property, and provided him with a small stipend. Just enough to live on by himself, and to get his fix every now and then.
In the end it had cost a bundle, but Harriet was happy to help, and she had set up a town that was prepared to grow and thrive and sustain itself and begin to flourish for the next generation. And that was all she could do.
The End.
The Special
by Olivia Hampshire
Chapter 1, Normalville
Allison was living what many of her friends and family referred to as "the life." She was a drop dead gorgeous blonde woman with the body of a porn star, big baby blue eyes, and a killer smile. Even after three kids, she still looked wonderful and appealing. She was married to her high school boyfriend, who had been the captain of the football team. They were homecoming king and queen and a most of the older people in their small town had watched them grow as a couple, and then as a family when Allison got pregnant after prom.
Their first child had been a beautiful little girl named Chastity. She was the envy of the town until the second child came along, a strong and handsome boy they named Lester Junior. The second baby had come right on the heels of the first. While their family and friends in town had been supportive, deep down they were a bit concerned about Allison and Lester's ability to care for their family. But Junior had been so charming and bold that he swept away everyone's worries. When the third child came along two years later, little Debbie Sue, it was a celebration.
People were envious of Allison's family and her beautiful children. Allison had always had easy pregnancies with healthy kids and she always wore a smile on her face. Lester was aging but still possessed a rugged sort of tomboy appeal. It was a lot for one woman to have, especially considering the high divorce rate and the rising fertility issues that were plaguing the United States. Allison had a lot to be proud of, and she heard that several times a day.
Of course, very few people knew about what went on behind the scenes. Any life can look good from a distance, unless you know the inner workings of something and experience it day after day. There are many sham marriages and many things that happen behind closed doors. Allison remembered a scandal that had rocked her town ten years ago when it was discovered that one of the most beloved public figures ran a large swingers club in the basement dungeon of a restaurant he owned. He ended up publicly humiliated and the restaurant was shut down for health violations. It never reopened, and the building was now vacant and decrepit, a very old "for sale" sign hanging in the corner of one of the dusty windows. Forever a reminder that there is a heavy penalty for some secrets.
That was part of the reason that Allison kept to herself. Agreeing with her admirers and always plastering a smile on her face. Besides, it was all a part of the job description. Allison was a waitress at a local restaurant, one that didn't even have a basement, let alone a brothel, and part of the job was smiling and chatting up the customers no matter how bad one was feeling or how rude the customers were acting. Allison had much practice in the fake smile. She had pretended to be interested in a young couples' dinner choices while her first daughter Chastity was hospitalized
with severe pneumonia. She tolerated the obnoxious, drunken flirty advances of older men on a regular basis, brushing it off and smiling reassuringly at their wives. The life of a waitress was not an easy one, but if you could keep your head above the water and keep smiling and keep pretending, you could make some decent tips. In fact, some months Allison took home more than her husband Lester, although she had learned to hide this fact from him after the first time it had happened. Angry and his masculinity hurt, Lester had beaten the crap out of her that night, leaving her with a bruised neck and a split lip. She had needed to take a week off work to heal and almost lost her job because of it. Since most people tipped in cash, at least in Allison's small town, it wasn't impossible to keep her earnings to herself. Lester wasn't the smartest apple in the barrel, and that helped too.
Currently, Allison was talking with her boss, Lucille. Lucille was a kind older woman who owned the restaurant and adored Allison. Allison was one of her hardest workers and she always kept the customers happy. Eventually, it had become necessary for Allison to let her boss know some of what was going on at home before it started to seriously tank her work performance. To her surprise, Allison had found in Lucille not just an understanding boss but a true friend who had been through similar experiences.
The restaurant had closed a little under an hour ago and there was one janitor left cleaning up in the kitchen. As far as Lucille and Allison knew, he did not speak more than a few words of English anyway, so they ignored him and conversed in normal voices in the main dining area. One of the televisions had been left on, and there was the local news on to drown out the words of their conversation anyway.
Allison was telling Lucille about her most recent concerns about Lester. First of all, she was convinced that he was cheating on her with someone. She had found the condom drawer in their bathroom severely depleted, and the condoms certainly were not being used by or on her. Lucille shook her head at how pig headed and blatant Lester could be. Not even smart enough of a man to hide his cheating ways. "Maybe he wants to get caught?" Allison suggested. Lucille shook her head. "I don't know baby girl, but my advice would be to keep it to yourself. Maybe subconsciously he wants you to know what is going on, but I know enough about Lester to know he is not trying to get called out on his behavior. He is just too stupid to be careful. If you confront him about the condoms, you already know what will happen." Allison nodded and cringed a bit as Lucille made a motion with her hands, hitting one palm with her first.
The good news, and the second news, was that lately the beatings had gotten better. Maybe Lester was feeling happier with his side chick, or maybe he was just too tired from fucking her to muster up the energy to beat his wife, either way, the past week had been confrontation free. That was something to be seriously thankful for. "You've been looking better this week," Lucille confirmed, "a bit more bounce in your step." Allison smiled. Lucille knew her better than anyone and could see through all her fake smiles and all the makeup and special outfits designed to cover up her bruises.
Allison was about to dive into the third news, about her daughter Chastity's health, when she was interrupted by an interesting report that was being shown on the news. Allison loved animals, especially wild animals, and her attention was taken away mid-sentence when she saw some adorable African monkeys jumping around on the television screen. She raised a finger to her lips and pointed towards the TV. Allison and Lucille watched as one of the reporters conducted an interview with the owner of a wildlife sanctuary in Kenya.
The story was about a wild life reserve that was helping orphan elephants, endangered African big cats, and a wide variety of monkeys. They were receiving a lot of funds from international charity and animal rights organizations, but they had encountered a strange situation for a non-profit organization in which they had plenty of money but not enough staff to sustain themselves. In an unusual turn of events, they were requesting that viewers not donate money, but rather donate time. They were especially interested in American veterinarians that could come and help care for some of the sick animals at the wildlife reserve, but they also had positions for basic care takers that required minimal experience.
Allison's eyes were bulging as she watched this, and her mind was racing. "Oh no," Lucille interrupted her thoughts, "that is just crazy, Allison. I know you have always wanted to be a veterinarian, but come on, you can't leave and go to Africa for some part time position cleaning up elephant poop!" Lucille tried to get Allison laughing, but something inside her brain had clicked and she was on a different wave length. It was like she had been transported to a different dimension, and she was looking at her boss, Lucille, with her smile worn face, deep brown eyes, and curly brown hair, through a foggy window. Allison was already doing the math inside of her head. The manager of the wildlife sanctuary had given some ballpark salary quotes. As long as she could find the money for the plane ticket, Allison figured she would end up making more over there living out her dream of helping sick and injured wild animals than she made working at the local restaurant. Lester would certainly make more money than he was now, if she could convince him to join her.
Moments of hope are intoxicating, and they interrupt clear thinking as they revitalize the brain with a strong flow of blood and nourish the soul with what at least seems like a real shot at change. Allison was tripping off of her hope, and she was imaging moving to Kenya with all three kids and Lester and repairing their marriage and making good money and bonding as a family. They would certainly be far away from Lester's new girlfriend, and Allison knew quite well he did not have a taste for African women. This could be exactly what the two of them needed. Her eyes were almost welling up with tears at the thought of real happiness. Now was not the time for real world concerns, like where the kids would go to school or how much Lester would despise cleaning up wild animal piss and shit, it was a time of unbridled passion.
Allison thanked Lucille for another great day of work, collected her tips, and hurried out the door. She left in a whirlwind, leaving the kindly Lucille behind shaking her head as the restaurant closed quietly behind Allison. "That girl has gotten bitten by the crazy bug, that's for sure," Lucille said to herself.
Chapter 2, Walfart
Allison was stuck in the parking lot, desperately gunning the engine of her old VW Beetle, praying for it to start. It felt like she could not get home fast enough, she was so excited to share her plan with Lester. Clouded by visions of cute monkeys and sick elephants, Allison could not imagine anything other than his smiling face. It was more money, that should be all he needed to hear.
Meanwhile, as Allison was struggling with her car, Lester was at home, shirt off, hairy beer belly hanging out over his boxers. He was relaxing in his lazy boy in front of the television, well into drinking his fifth rum on the rocks. He was not paying attention to what was on the TV because he was too involved in his conversation with his girlfriend from work.
Lester worked at the local branch of a large chain store, known to the locals as "Walfart." He had worked his way up from bag boy to cashier and now he was a floor manager. He knew the store like the back of his hand, and it was easy for him to get drunk or high at work and just chill in his office or on the floor. He knew all of the employees well, but they had recently employed a pretty young thing named Sabrina. Sabrina had just graduated from high school, and had chosen to begin her career stocking shelves at Lester's store.
"You look so cute when you are high up on the ladder stocking the top shelves, baby girl," Lester was babbling to Sabrina on his cell phone. He did not mention how whenever she was on the ladder he could see up her shirt and check out the color of her bra. Or how much he loved when she reached up high enough to reveal her thong of the day poking out from her khakis that rode so low on her hips. Sabrina was only seventeen years old, while Lester was thirty, making him a bit of a pervert in most people's books, but Lester was never much one for reading anyway.
The two flirted and Lester schmoozed with Sabrina
as he finished his drink, shaking the ice cubes around gently in his glass. He had used up a lot of condoms on this little beauty and even when he double bagged his pecker he found himself spurting fast. Something about that tight, immature teen body got him going and cumming way ahead of himself. It had never crossed his mind that his wife Allison might notice all the missing wang bags, it wasn't like they were having anything like regular sex. Despite the fact that anyone else would have rated Allison a total dime and her body was rocking, Lester could only see her as a mom. When he closed his eyes, he didn't see the Allison everyone else saw in front of them. He saw a bloated, pregnant woman. He had missed the birth of both of his girls, but he still remembered the pregnancy pains, the hemorrhoids, the stray nipple or belly button hair, and worst of all the fat belly. Watching Junior being born had been the biggest mistake of his life, and he could never undo that image. He had not even gotten up close to see the action, but when he saw the chubby seven pound baby boy that Allison had produced, all red and miserable and covered in womb cheese, he knew his dick wasn't shit. He sure as hell did not have a seven pound pecker.
Lester was surprised Debbie Sue had even been conceived, because his desire for sex with his wife had certainly died away after Junior was born. He had gotten really drunk on a holiday and snorted a few lines of coke and gotten feisty. Allison, that fertile bitch, had drank up his cum with her baby maker and she popped out a tiny little five pound baby girl nine months later. Lester had stayed distant throughout the whole pregnancy and purposefully avoided the hospital during Debbie Sue's birth. He had sworn off sex after that, finding every excuse to deny his quite busy wife any marital satisfaction.
Now, he was on the phone with the young, never been pregnant (at least as far as he knew) Sabrina, giggling and flirting, feeling his dick grow in his pants. He was giving it some rubs and tugs as he told Sabrina how beautiful she is and how she made his wife look like a dog turd. Lester went on and on bashing Allison, unable to help himself. Sabrina seemed to be loving it, so he told her all sorts of vile things about his wife, and even found himself rambling on about how much he would like to leave Allison and run away with Sabrina. "Fuck these little fart kids," Lester laughed.
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