He met the dealer on the corner, as he’d been instructed to do.
He’d finally broken free of the morals that had been taught at him from his childhood, and took a taste at a friends party a few weeks back. He’d been warned that it could be addictive but he’d just puffed up his chest and replied those sorts of things didn’t happen to him. Except, they had. He’d never had anything so divine.
The tasting had turned into a sampling. The sampling had morphed into a craving over the days that followed. And, as the addiction settled in, the craving turned into a need. He had reached out to his friend, the one that had originally offered him the taste, and the friend had told him how to contact the dealer.
And, so, when the need grew too great to ignore, he had.
The soft light from the nearby street lamp bathed their brief exchange in an ethereal glow. Part of him couldn’t believe how quickly things had escalated. A month before he couldn’t have imagined ever meeting a dealer on the street at midnight in a questionable part of town. A month before he didn’t truly understand the words “need” and “addiction.”
“Do you have any garlic?” He whispered and winced as his voice carried in the darkness. His head twitched as his eyes danced up and down the streets, peering into every shadow.
“That’s an illegal spice, man, I don’t trade in that. Wouldn’t you rather have some Molly, Mickey, or Mary?”
He shook his head defiantly. “No, only garlic will do.” He hadn’t even heard of the other three. They didn’t interest him at all. Not yet, anyway.
The dealer began to walk away, “You look like a cop to me, man. And, if you ain’t, this is no place for someone like you to be. Go home and sleep it off.”
“Please,” he begged, his voice quivered as the depth of his need poured out of him.
The dealer stopped and turned back. He recognized that need. It was what set the true customers apart from the cops. “Okay, man, I can set you straight. How much you want?”
“How much do you have?”
……………………………………………………………………………………………………….
I think I’m hungry this morning. Everything I want to write has to do with food. Perhaps I should go find some of that and set myself straight? In the meantime, as if you hadn’t already guessed, this bit of silliness was in response to the current Inspiration Monday writing challenge:
The Rules
There are none. Read the prompts, get inspired, write something. No word count minimum or maximum. You don’t have to include the exact prompt in your piece, and you can interpret the prompt(s) any way you like.
OR
No really; I need rules!
Okay; write 200-500 words on the prompt of your choice. You may either use the prompt as the title of your piece or work it into the body of your piece. You must complete it before 6 pm CST on the Monday following this post.
The Prompts:
SQUANDERED VISION
SEE IN THE DARK
BROKEN CLOCK
ILLEGAL SPICE
ORNITHOPTER
So, dear kingdomites, tell me, what do you need?
I can’t imagine a world worth living in that didn’t have spices…
You only say that because you grew up with them. If you’d never tasted them before how would you know what you were missing?
That’s a scary thought.
*runs off to find meth dealer*
Meth?
No!!!!
Start with Molly. That’s much safer.
Oh…oh sure, Molly.
I’ve never tried tha- I mean, never even heard of it!
Good answer.
I’ve never heard of it either.
*Shudder*….addictions are scary things to deal with. The idea that someone can incept himself to believe he “needs” something that he shouldn’t even have, or even doesn’t need, is creepy. You’re a good writer! Do you have any published works?
Aul
P.S. “Incept” and “inception” both became real words to me after I watched the movie “Inception” 🙂
Definitely real words. I agree with you there.
My only published work so far is a short story (18,000 words) in the collection: Fauxpocalypse. There is a link on my sidebar for it… or you can just search it in Amazon or Smashwords or iBooks or… pretty much everywhere I think.
Awesome. I’ll definitely look into it.
Aul
Thank you, much appreciated.
You’re welcome!
Needs is needs. Go eat (if you want to or need to)…
Soooo hungry!!!
At first I thought you were going with girl scout cookies, but something in your writing tipped me toward food. Yum. I hate avoiding garlic all week, but the dancers all appreciate it I’m sure…so come the weekend I do crave garlic. 🙂
All week? There’s no way I could go 5 days without it. That’s what gum and tictacs are for. 😉
WHAT GARLIC?!!! You totally got me on that one! That was soo unexpected and I was so drawn into the story and then….sigh…garlic…lol
Hee hee hee
The Jester silliness strikes again!
You did smart ass! 😉
Hey, hey, hey!
Who you calling smart?!
you missed part of that sentence :p
What, ass? No, I am an ass. I’ve accepted that. I just didn’t want you calling me smart. That’s just rude.
You’re so smart!
Hey! Knock it off!!
But smart, cauze smart
What the what?
What are you doing to me!!
You know cause smart
Hahahaha
Okay, fine. Have it your way. I’m a genius.
Okay and yes you are.
Sometimes I’m an angry genius…
hey… I’m the hulk!!!
😉
There you go!!
Jester Smash!!!
:twitches:: C’mon, man. I just need a little o’ that white powder. Just a teaspoon o’ salt, yo. That’s all I need.
I thought about salt. I thought about sugar. But, in the end, it had to be garlic.
Truth be told, I couldn’t care less about salt. garlic was definitely the way to go. 🙂
Sugar probably would have been better…
Can you imagine? A world where sugar is illegal…
As much as it pains me to say so, I can easily foresee a day when sugar is heavily taxed and required to carry warning labels, like cigarettes.
That day is not too far away. We will probably see it in our lifetimes.
I believe so.
Gross.
It might not be as bad as you think. There are alternatives.
Too much sugar?
Never having gotten to eat sugar in the first place?
Sugar not just outlawed, but completely eradicated?
No, I mean there are some pretty darn good sugar substitutes. There’s one in particular I have in mind but can’t think of the name right now. Begins with an ‘S’. It’s natural, too. Zoe knows it…
Sassafras?
Sweet potato?
Squash?
Strawberries?
Steva? Maybe?
Dude. My brain is kinda mushy right now. (Swallow that smart remark, mister. SWALLOW IT.)
*gulp*
What? What remark. What do you take me for? A jester???
Oh, well, yeah…
😀
I would be that guy too if garlic were illegal.
Hah!
😀
I could maybe fight the cravings for garlic. I think, eventually, I’d go looking for the dealer if sugar was illegal.
Ah, I love it. A weird world made starkly real. This is really good.
I can’t live without garlic, by the way. I think that’s exactly the spice Frank Herbert had in mind.
Hah! Well, I’m not sure if I can agree with you on that… I do love garlic too, but I can’t say that I’d ever imagine it as the most valuable substance in the world…
Dude, I eat it raw.
Have to go catch up on your writings…
Raw garlic? Yum! 😀
I guess the world got taken over by vampires….
Haven’t you been paying attention? That’s exactly what Revis and I are fighting to undo!!
That was excellent. Personally, I could live without garlic.I could live without most spices. I can’t live without TUMS. I enjoyed the story. Lucy .
Haha, oh no!
But, but, pepper! and sugar! and basil! and paprika! and sea salt! and, yes, I’m addicted to spices.
Though, this could easily be rewritten for Tums instead. 😉
Actually, all the spices cause me to use TUMS. Sugar is not a spice and so I love it and can’t be without it. If it were an illegal food item I would start a revolution. Lucy
Viva el azucar!!!
Sounds like a world where the god is Nuggan (Terry Pratchett’s Discworld has a range of gods, one of whom is Nuggan, who has banned, amongst other things, the colour blue, chocolate and garlic, and is generally considered to be a god who is wearing his underpants on his head).
Hah! Yes, that definitely fits. I’m not sure I’ve read about Nuggan yet (I’ve only read a handful of the Discworld books). I’ll have to see if I can find the one he is featured in. (Unless he was mentioned in Small Gods and I’ve just forgotten?)
Not in Small Gods. He first appears in Last Hero, and then features in Monstrous Regiment.
Great! Added to the list, and I’ll read them asap!
I’m somewhat of a Pratchett geek. What is scary is that I didn’t have to look up the titles. Last Hero is the one you want to read first.
Not scary at all. If you asked a question about something obscure from the DragonLance realms, I could probably send you to the correct book without having to look up the titles.
Coming from a family of garlic fiends, let me express my horror at the idea of a society that outlaws it.
Vampire problem completely aside, how would we make pesto? How, I ask you???
Loved this. : )
A dinner without garlic in our house is a rare dinner, indeed. Glad you liked this bit of silliness. 😀
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