Page 16 of Black
“Hey, Bruce, Gabriel Thomas here – Black is out of the shower and ready to talk to you.”
No, I wasn’t! But I didn’t have much choice when Gabriel pushed the phone at me.
“Hey,” I said and looked at the screen, where a guy around fifty, with large square glasses, was looking back at me.
“Hello, Black, nice to meet you. My name is Bruce Connelly and I’m the founder of the Regression Therapy Center.”
“Nice to meet you too.” Yeah, I can be polite when I want to.
“I understand from your uncle that you’ve gotten yourself in a bit of a pickle and need to impress the judge before your first court hearing.”
“That’s right.”
“When is that hearing?”
“May twenty-eighth.”
“Good, then we have time. I would suggest you come down and follow our two-week treatment plan. You’ll be happy to hear we can squeeze you in right away.”
“What? You mean, like… today?”
“Yes. Can you come today?”
I looked up at Gabriel, who nodded his head and mimed “I can drive you.”
I wanted to say no, but the unpleasant memory of facing the judge yesterday made me say, “Okay, I suppose I could.”
“Good, but before you start packing your bags, I need to make sure you’re the right fit for our program.
“Okay.”
“Now tell me, are you addicted to drugs? And before you answer, let me warn you that we will have you give urine and blood samples when you arrive to see if you have anything in your system.”
“No, I’m not a drug addict,” I said.
“And yet I understand from your uncle that you were caught with oxycodone by the police.”
“That’s right, but I was going to sell them to make a profit, not take them all myself.”
“You say not take themallyourself… how many were for you?”
I sighed. “Sometimes I take a pill to make me relax and feel better.”
“And how often is sometimes?”
I hesitated. “That depends… daily if I have the money, but sometimes I go a week without a pill.”
“When did you take your last pill?”
This guy was relentless with his questions, but I answered. “Maybe four days ago.”
“Okay.” He seemed to be thinking for a moment before he continued. “You say you’re not a drug addict, but for someone to commit theft to get their drugs doesn’t sound like recreational use to me.”
I shrugged in response.
“Let me ask you again, are you addicted to oxycodone?”
“Maybe to a small degree,” I admitted.
