Sunday, March 1^st, 2020

Hard Enough

I enjoyed the party right up to the moment Jill called to say Jack was in the E.R.  He’d had a stroke.

After we hugged in the hospital lobby, Jill said, “We have a kid about to drop out of school.  The furnace needs to be replaced. The teachers’ union doesn’t think we’ll settle the contract before next year. And just to add fuel to the fire – so to speak – I started having hot flashes. This is the last thing I need.”

The doctor came out to tell Jill about Jack’s condition. He mentioned an abscess at an injection site on Jack’s foot.  Jill seemed puzzled, but I knew immediately what I should have realized much sooner. Codeine hadn’t been his drug of choice. He had been using it to avoid withdrawal when his supply of heroin dried up. Most likely he was eating another opiate as well. The cough syrup had been a smoke screen.  

Jack had shot up places Jill wouldn’t notice right away, like his foot. The doc explained how injecting drugs had contributed to his stroke, and how the withdrawal symptoms would complicate treatment.

“As if life wasn’t hard enough,” I said, shaking my head. Jill started to cry.

Today I won’t let drugs make life harder than it has to be.

2020 Vision ©2017 by Ken Montrose

2020 Vision is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at: www.greenbriartraining.com https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/