In a somber voice, Barris said, More people than youd think. And more each day. This is a world of illness, and getting progressively worse. Above his head, the thought balloon got worse too.
Would you like to order dessert? Beth asked, smiling down at them.
What like? Charles Freck said with suspicion.
We have fresh strawberry pie and fresh peach pie, Beth said smiling, that we make here ourselves.
No, we dont want any dessert, Charles Freck said. The waitress left. Thats for old ladies, he said to Barris, those fruit pies.
The idea of turning yourself over for rehabilitation, Barris said, certainly makes you apprehensive. Thats a manifestation of purposeful negative symptoms, your fear. Its the drug talking, to keep you out of New-Path and keep you from getting off it. You see, all symptoms are purposeful, whether they are positive or negative.
No shit, Charles Freck muttered.
The negative ones show up as the cravings, which are deliberately generated by the total body to force its ownerwhich in this case is youto search frantically
The first thing they do to you when you go into New-Path, Charles Freck said, is they cut off your pecker. As an object lesson. And then they fan out in all directions from there.
Your spleen next, Barris said.
They what, they cutWhat does that do, a spleen?
Helps you digest your food.
How?
By removing the cellulose from it.
Then I guess after that
Just noncellulose foods. No leaves or alfalfa.
How long can you live that way?
Barris said, It depends on your attitude.
How many spleens does the average person have? He knew there usually were two kidneys.
Depends on his weight and age.
Why? Charles Freck felt keen suspicion.
A person grows more spleens over the years. By the time hes eighty
Youre shitting me.
Barris laughed. Always he had been a strange laugher, Charles Freck thought. An unreal laugh, like something breaking. Why your decision, Barris said presently, to turn yourself in for residence therapy at a drug rehab center?
Jerry Fabin, he said.
With a gesture of easy dismissal, Barris said, Jerry was a special case. I once watched Jerry Fabin staggering around and falling down, shitting all over himself, not knowing where he was, trying to get me to look up and research what poison hed got hold of, thallium sulfate most likely its used in insecticides and to snuff rats. It was a burn, somebody paying him back. I could think of ten different toxins and poisons that might
Theres another reason, Charles Freck said. Im running low again in my supply, and I cant stand it, this always running low and not knowing if Im fucking ever going to see any more.
Well, we cant even be sure well see another sunrise.
But shitIm down so low now that its like a matter of days. And also I think Im being ripped off. I cant be taking them that fast; somebody must be pilfering from my fucking stash.
How many tabs do you drop a day?
Thats very difficult to determine. But not that many.
A tolerance builds up, you know.
Sure, right, but not like that. I cant stand running out and like that. On the other hand He reflected. I think I got a new source. That chick, Donna. Donna something.
Oh, Bobs girl.
His old lady, Charles Freck said, nodding.
No, he never got into her pants. He tries to.
Is she reliable?
Which way? As a lay or Barris gestured: hand to mouth and swallowing.
What kind of sex is that? Then he flashed on it. Oh, yeah, the latter.
Fairly reliable. Scatterbrained, somewhat. Like youd expect with a chick, especially the darker ones. Has her brain between her legs, like most of them. Probably keeps her stash there, too. He chuckled. Her whole dealers stash.
Charles Freck leaned toward him. Arctor never balled Donna? He talks about her like he did.
Barris said, Thats Bob Arctor. Talks like he did many things. Not the same, not at all.
Well, how come he never laid her? Cant he get it on?
Barris reflected wisely, still fiddling with his patty melt; he had now torn it into little bits. Donna has problems. Possibly shes on junk. Her aversion to bodily contact in generaljunkies lose interest in sex, you realize, due to their organs swelling up from vasoconstriction. And Donna, Ive observed, shows an inordinate failure of sexual arousal, to an unnatural degree. Not just toward Arctor but toward He paused grumpily. Other males as well.
Shit, you just mean she wont come across.
She would, Barris said, if she were handled right. For instance He glanced up in a mysterious fashion. I can show you how to lay her for ninety-eight cents.
I dont want to lay her. I just want to buy from her. He felt uneasy. There was perpetually something about Barris that made his stomach uncomfortable. Why ninety-eight cents? he said. She wouldnt take money; shes not turning tricks. Anyhow, shes Bobs chick.
The money wouldnt be paid directly to her, Barris said in his precise, educated way. He leaned toward Charley Freck, pleasure and guile quivering amid his hairy nostrils. And not only that, the green tint of his shades had steamed up. Donna does coke. Anybody who would give her a gram of coke shed undoubtedly spread her legs for, especially if certain rare chemicals were added in strictly scientific fashion that Ive done painstaking research on.
I wish you wouldnt talk that way, Charles Freck said. About her. Anyhow, a gram of cokes selling now for over a hundred dollars. Whos got that?
Half sneezing, Barris declared, I can derive a gram of pure cocaine at a total cost to me, for the ingredients from which I get it, not including my labor, of less than a dollar.
Bullshit.
Ill give you a demonstration.
Where do these ingredients come from?
The 7-11 store, Barris said, and stumbled to his feet, discarding bits of patty melt in his excitement. Get the check, he said, and Ill show you. Ive got a temporary lab set up at the house, until I can create a better one. You can watch me extract a gram of cocaine from common legal materials purchased openly at the 7-11 food store for under a dollar total cost. He started down the aisle. Come on. His voice was urgent.
Sure, Charles Freck said, picking up the check and following. The mothers dingey, he thought. Or maybe he isnt. With all those chemistry experiments he does, and reading and reading at the county library maybe theres something to it. Think of the profit, he thought. Think what we could clear!
He hurried after Barris, who was getting out the keys to his Karmann Ghia as he strode, in his surplus fliers jump suit, past the cashier.
They parked in the lot of the 7-11, got out and walked inside. As usual, a huge dumb cop stood pretending to read a strokebook magazine at the front counter; in actuality, Charles Freck knew, he was checking out everyone who entered, to see if they were intending to hit the place.
What do we pick up here? he asked Barris, who was casually strolling about the aisles of stacks of food.
A spray can, Barris said. Of Solarcaine.
Sunburn spray? Charles Freck did not really believe this was happening, but on the other hand, who knew? Who could be sure? He followed Barris to the counter; this time Barris paid.
They purchased the can of Solarcaine and then made it past the cop and back to their car. Barris drove rapidly from the lot, down the street, on and on at high speed, ignoring posted speed-limit signs, until finally he rolled to a halt before Bob Arctors house, with all the old unopened newspapers in the tall grass of the front yard.
Stepping out, Barris lifted some items with wires dangling from the back seat to carry indoors. Voltmeter, Charles Freck saw. And other electronic testing gear, and a soldering gun. Whats that for? he asked.