I never expected the things to turn this way when i received that call from Amit late in the night, that night. I was already in deep slumber when the phone rang. He spoke about that horrible incident of the brawl at the local drug store. Personally i avoid getting into arguments with billing guys , be it in a supermarket or a drug store. I always carry a satchel full of change and tender exact change in order to avoid confrontation. However if there are circumstances that some balance creeps up, i don't force the billing guy to return it to me. If they do it willingly, i accept it. If they don't, i just let go. From the meaness in their eyes, you could bet that most of these billing guys are part of some money laundering/ extortion racket. It's always better to loose some money than to loose some body part.
I wanted to say all these things to Amit but could not avoid taking a jaw flexing yawn for about thirty seconds. And then as i began to speak, i heard a whirring sound on the receiver. I yelled hello few times but all i heard was static from the other end. Then i heard the hung up tone. And then it struck to me that maybe his phone was wired. A cold sweat dripped from the spinal cord to my pelvic brim. In a fit of frenzy i opened my drug box to check on the inventory. It had the reserves for a month but few important things were about to get exhausted: like my cough syrup and the gastric pills . I had no other way but to manage on these reserves to avoid getting into the local drug store. Its been about a month and a half that i have visited the drug store. In fact i avoid that driveway altogether and have taken work from home option for a month. And most important of all, i haven't called up Amit for a month or so. I don't know whats become of him but i hope he is okay. You never know, at what levels talatedhese drug related violence can get esc. You never know....
