RECOIL:GUNS AND REGRETS

chapter1:Oscar
my first job
We ,me and my other financially challenged friends used to smoke the Indian version of the cigar called the beedi.which cost bout a thousandth of a Cuban Havana.and tasted like burning plastic.We still enjoyed it though.just takes a little getting used to.It was 4 in the evening and was almost time to lave the school campus and go back the hell hole of a house.I used to drag conversations with the my friends just to make them stay a while longer.But they would scamper away into their tiny suburban homes as soon as the sunset.On that day i was the last to leave ,as usual.playing around with younger kids.when i noticed someone scaling the school walls from the outside.planning on wasting more time i decided to study this thin very pale looking lad who was certainly running from something..for once he had gotten in the school grounds he crawled to a corner ,gave his back to the wall and began panting like a dead man.
I was at a good 100 Mt's from him ,but could still see very clearly the fear in his eyes..As i watched him brush his shoulder length hair off his face .He gave a sudden jolt and noticed a small weed of a boy that was me looking at him.at the very moment the ear piercing sounds of the police sirens went screeching down on the other side of the wall.i wasn't too bright but i could make the calculation here.cops and a scared young guy hiding from them.hearing the police vehicles the kids i had been playing with left to catch a glimpse of the scene outside the school.i stayed.and watched the guy in a white shirt and a unwashed pair of jeans.trying to signal me something.i could not make out what he was trying to say as the words came out in short gasps of breath.I moved in closer to where he was almost lying on the ground.as i came near i realised i had come too close .with a lunge he had me by the collar and was tugging at it.his face was merely 3 inches from mine.I shook him off and made a desperate run for safety.as i ran i turned around to see the guy collapsing back and now lying flat on the ground.i realised now what he had been asking for ...it was water!.in all the commotion i had not figured the simple fact that ,by the looks of this guy ,he must have run a considerable distance to be in this state .
i immediately dashed to the school washroom got a empty bottle of packaged water .washed it briskly and filled it ,and dashed back to the guy lying in my school grounds.As i neared him the possibility of danger to my own life never crossed my mind even though i knew for sure that this was the guy the cops were after.This tendency of mine to miscalculate situations and give into natural human duties would make me pay heavily in the years to come'.I pulled the dead weight of the guy with one hand to make him sit upright and hold the leaking bottle of water on the other.for a 14 year old i was pretty strong for my age.
i sprinkled a few drops of water into the unconscious guys face and he blinked ,that was a relief .I stood up now not taking any chances.and handed over the bottle to him.He pounced at it and gulped down the entire bottle in a matter of seconds.I turned around and was leaving not sure what this guy might do since being restored back to normality.I heard a soft almost girl like voice calling.I turned around and the guy was on his feet now and signalling me to come closer making his dead facial features look as soft as possible while addressing me.I presumed he was going to thank me.I moved closer pretending to be casual ,as my heart beat like a jackhammer.he casually put his arms around me ,he was a good 1and 1/2 feet taller than me.he looked down at me and gave me a smile.a very forced one ,not the one i used to give my father.it seemed a lot different ,as if this guy never smiled for real in his entire life .
"you have a cigarette ?"he asked .i realised then what 1 year of smoking had done to me .the cheeks had been sucked in .giving my face a skeletal look .smoking combined with bad nutrition was to blame.this guy i thought had probably noticed it."all i have is a beedi"i said in a very composed mature tone
"yeah that will do"he said and began fumbling in his pockets.i took out the last beedi i had saved for the night.and began handing over it to him,thinking what a ungrateful bastard he was ,not a mention of thanks.
Strangely i noticed him digging deep into the front of his trousers .and i began to back up.I had enough experience in pedophiles.and over time developed a very strong dislike for the kind.As i took a couple of steps back.he took out a small paper bundle and squatted down .patting the ground next to him,signalling me to come sit by his side.More relaxed than before dismissing the idea that this man was trying to get into my pants,i sat down to watch him .he opened the paper bundle with trembling hands ,it was evident that he had not gotten over the shock of his earlier adventure.carefully placing a hand under the opened bundle,he emptied the contents into his other hand.I was observing very closely at his hands and the very suspicious looking content in them,i did not notice him looking at me.as i shifted my eyes i caught him looking at me with a genuine smile on his face.I noticed he had a patch on his stub bled face that was not covered with the light brown facial hair he had on the rest .it looked more like dead tissue and this gave a very menacing look to the otherwise a rugged handsome sort of face he owned.
"you know what this is ,don't you?"he asked now shifting his eyes to his hands as he carefully began breaking down a small piece of what i thought was black coal.
"no "i replied ."well you should " he said putting on a very-matter-of-fact kind of face.i noticed him taking the beedi i had given him and trying to unwrap its coils,since it the beedi meant for smoking was made from extremely dried single piece of leaf.This was a very difficult task.But in a matter of seconds the beedi laid in front of me in one complete not a crack on it....assuming its primitive,natural form.....
"now watch kid,this is useful stuff"the guy said rubbing his one hand on the side of his jeans to dry out the sweat .Having absolutely no clue what was going on ,i still was fixed at this show that the guy was putting ,my anticipation was killing me.quickly roiling the beedi around the powdered black stuff.he began tapping the butt of the beedi on his watch.i was quite disappointed .so whats the big deal he opened up a beedi,put some black dried poop in it and then rolled it back.
He wiped the remaining residue of the black powder from his hands and offered me the spiked beedi.I wasn't expecting this,hesitantly i i put the beedi in my mouth and a very mild pleasant aroma tickled my senses.
"whats in this?" i asked him ."well my little friend its something thats going to make you forget all your troubles."the guy answered with a real sales guy tone in his voice....trying hard to convince.he took out match box from the sock of his right leg and opened it ,thee i saw more of the black stuff .he took out a match stick ,lit,and held the burning flame in front of me.I closed my eyes and puffed at the beedi.