Ginny walked over and looked at Marty.

“Oh, hey, you gotta try…”

Before he could finish, she grabbed the bong from his hands and took a hit. She handed it back to him, and then pulled out a much smaller bong from her purse. It was short and made of glass. Then she pulled a small vial out of her pocket.

 “Basehead!” Lani yelled. “You’re a tramp and a junkie!”

Ginny gave Lani the finger again then disappeared into the kitchen. An hour later she walked back into the living room. She looked directly at Lani, and then walked over to David. Before he knew what happened, she suddenly lunged and straddled David’s lap. The room went dead silent. He quickly pushed her off. Then Lani jumped up, pounced on Ginny and began swinging at her. David and Frank managed to pull her off. David held Lani around the waist as she continued to swing her fists wildly and scream obscenities.

Marty stood up and helped Ginny to her feet. “Hey Ginny, maybe you should just split.”

David sat Lani down on the couch. “Just relax!”

Ginny began to stumble, so David went over and helped her to the front door.

“I need my purse,” she mumbled. David went back into the living room, where Lani was fuming.

“Where’s her purse?” David asked.

“Who gives a shit about the old tramp’s purse!” Lani screamed. Then she laughed. “She probably needs another fix!” Lani picked Ginny’s purse up off the floor and hurled it at him.

David returned to find the front door open and Ginny lying on the step. He noticed that her eyes were glassy and she couldn’t stand up.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you? You really need to leave. And now I’m in big shit because of you!” he said, trying to help her to her feet.

He grabbed her as she began to fall down. That’s when he noticed the marks on the inside of her forearms. Apparently her friend Crank did sell heroin. But David wasn’t sure what to do. He didn’t know much about the drug other than to avoid it, so he decided that she’d be fine if she could just sleep it off. He helped her back into the house, holding her up to keep her from falling to the floor. Marty looked up as they entered the living room.

“Oh, come on man, why is she back?” he asked, with an annoyed tone in his voice.

David helped Ginny up the stairs. It was a long staircase, and he nearly lost his grip on her several times. He knew the first bedroom was Marty’s, so he dragged her further down the hall to one he knew was empty. Then he pushed her onto the bed and tossed her purse next to her. 

*********************************

Senior year was almost over. Graduation was only weeks away, a perfectly good reason to have a party at Marty’s house. David bumped into Marty at the corner store. He was shocked to see him.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you anywhere than at your parents’ house.”

Marty laughed. “Yeah. But hey, my supply dried up. Actually, he got arrested. Uncle said to find someone else. I’m on my way to make other arrangements. You’re coming to the party, right?”

David lit a cigarette. “Hell yeah!”

“Are you bringing you-know-who?”

“Lani? Of course! What kind of question is that?”

“No offense, man. But I don’t want any trouble.”

David turned around to walk home. “Then it’s a good thing that there won’t be any! And you can be sure of that!”

Marty watched David head down the street. “I hope so.”

Marty Marsden

Marty is the son of Clifford and Mika Marsden. Clifford worked for the Trans-Atlantic Banking Group, a subsidiary of the Royal Association of Lending Financiers PLC, whose corporate headquarters was located in Canary Wharf in east London. The Royal had a large office complex about 30 miles south of Westbridge. But Clifford spent much of each year in Europe. Mika was a sales rep for the Chantilly Fashion Company, a clothing company that marketed a premier line of women’s business clothing. She spent much of her time traveling the country, going from one trade show to another. As a result, Marty, an only child, spent virtually all of his time in the large, sprawling mansion off Blue Hills Drive, a small private road just off Riley Street. It was just a short walk from the residence of Carl and Ellen Larimore. Clifford arranged for a colleague to periodically drop-off sizable sums of money for Marty’s living expenses…food, clothes, school supplies, and the like. It wasn’t until much later that the Marsdens learned that Marty had dropped out of school. It should come as no surprise that Marty’s house, three-stories high with a maze of winding hallways leading to dozens of rooms on each floor, became the place for the kids of Westbridge to party. And of course, David and Lani were often to be found there. As far as David knew, Marty rarely left his parents’ house. He had an arrangement with a local dealer named Richard Rattford, aka Richie Rat, who would deliver drugs right to Marty’s front door. Marty once told David that his “source” ran a dating service, seeing how he was constantly bringing Mary Jane over to his house.

Marty’s reputation was well-known in Westbridge, and despite the fact that everyone knew that there was always copious amounts of weed at his home, the police never dropped in for a visit. It was during David’s senior year in high school that he learned from Marty that this was due to his uncle being a cop. Mika’s brother Philip Coolridge was an undercover agent for the State Police’s Co-Commission for the Elimination of Illicit and Illegal Botanical Products. Once known as the Agency for Stamping out Moonshining, it was combined with the Commission Against Trading in Unregulated Cotton and Agricultural Materials, a sub-agency of the Pierce County Police Coordination Office. But since the latter was formed solely to coordinate investigations involving the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office and the State Police, they decided not to reveal the fact that they were carrying out investigations of their own. So their agencies and sub-agencies claimed to be part of otherwise non-existent law enforcement groups, including the Franklin County Authority for Monitoring the Border Between Franklin County and Pierce County…being the purported parent agency of the Unregulated Cotton and Agricultural Materials agents. The men of Coolridge’s Squad were originally known as Cannabals because of their formal name…the Bureau of Local Westbridge Operations against Cannabis. Not liking the nickname, they were renamed the Bureau of Local Westbridge Operations against Hydroponically-Grown Purple Kush, resulting in Coolridge’s men being known as The Skunks. However, realizing the inconvenience to his nephew caused by the arrest of Richie Rat, Coolridge steered him toward another source. Ginny Cooper frequently crashed in one of the large bedrooms on the top floor of Marty’s house. Later in life, Marty became a Drug Rehabilitation Counselor. His cousin, Eddie Marsden, taught music at Westbridge High.

Out back of the science building there was a long wooden fence. On the other side of the fence was a street of large ranch houses. Where the fence ended, there was a small wooded area. There was a chain-link fence intended to keep kids from cutting through it. The corner store was just on the other side, and cutting through the trees and bushes saved about 10 minutes walk to get there. So it’s not surprising that the chain-link fence was pulled away from the support posts and a well-worn path led through the wooded area. One Saturday afternoon, David suddenly walked down the path. He was there to meet Mark. Mark lived down the street, and the two had several classes together. They liked the same kind of music and enjoyed partying. When David arrived, Mark was already there. David pulled a 12 pack of beer out of a grocery bag and sat down on a large rock.

“I don’t want to hang out here. Let’s go to Marty’s,” David said.

“Sure, but let’s finish the beer,” Mark said.

The two lined the cans up and competed to see who could drink them the fastest. A few cans later, both had to stop to keep from getting sick. David put the last beers back into the grocery bag.

“Let’s go. This sucks.”

They emerged from the other side of the trees and stopped at the corner store to get cigarettes. Then they headed down Riley Street toward Marty’s house.

“He better be home,” Mark said.

David laughed. “He’s always home.”

This was true. Marty rarely ever left his parents‘ house. Even the guy he bought weed from would deliver it to his house for him. The police knew Marty well, but never gave him any trouble. David found out later that Marty’s uncle was a cop, and apparently the police had bigger guys to go after anyway.