Drug Lord

I shrugged. I wasn’t the only one who had problems. Fish Creek was an easy place to hide, so small that strangers were notable. I got the impression that everybody knew everybody else up here.

I was an odd girl out, with my dark eyes, Brazilian blowout, and brown skin. Everyone here looked like a Viking.

They’d been kind enough, though the little kids stared a lot more than I was used to in DC.

I put my case of ginger ale on the countertop.

“Just ginger ale?” the cashier asked.

I nodded.

“I threw up this morning.”

“Do you want any medicine? Do you still feel sick?”

I shook my head.

“Nope. I don’t feel sick at all. It was weird…just a little food poisoning, I guess.”

She looked at me for a moment, as if trying to decide something.

“No offense, but maybe you want to pick up one of our pregnancy tests? They’re in the pharmacy section.”

I felt the floor move under my feet.

“Pregnancy test?”

“Why not? No harm, right?”

I stared at this stranger who was suggesting something unimaginable.

Freaking out, I started counting in my head.

“Could you grab one for me?”

She took a quick look around the store. Nobody was there besides us.

“Sure thing.”

She walked quickly with the instinct of a bloodhound. I felt like I’d been a blind woman rummaging through Woodman’s, but she knew exactly what she was doing. Maybe she was native to Fish Creek, not a runaway like me.

Twenty seconds later, she had an EPT box in her hands.

“Here you go. If you take it and get a positive result, there are some clinics within driving distance…you can find an OBGYN.”

I looked at her and couldn’t process what she was saying. I knew that she was speaking English, but I was flipping out.

“Thank you.”

“You betcha.”

I gave her my credit card and she rang me up. I hadn’t used my credit card since I’d come up here, because I simply hadn’t needed to buy anything.

I didn’t even know which answer I wanted. If I had a baby…if I really…I was a mess.

“All done!”

She pushed the case of ginger ale at me with the EPT box on top. She slid the receipt across the counter, and then I signed it.