Dinner and Drugs
I met him when I was fourteen. At that time we were in eighth grade playing basketball and wondering what high school would be like. Now, at 22 I am learning more about my old friend than I ever thought possible.
We sat in the booth at a restaurant that boasted it’s family atmosphere and it’s homemade pie. The waiter, Michael, would come by and offer friendly conversation as well as another refill on my sweet tea. When he was gone, the conversation turned back to Bryan* and that night’s topic: his former use of marijuana.
Since he is my friend, I knew about his self-proclaimed “troubles” with the illegal substance. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that after our middle school game of horse, Bryan was sneaking away have his next joint.
“How old was I? I was ten.”
That’s right! Ten years old! He was ten years old the first time that peer pressure from his cousin and a camping trip with his buddies led to his first encounter with illegal substances.
“I didn’t even know what it was.” Bryan said.
From ten years old the marijuana use continued.
“I was bored,” he said.
As the waiter reappears to bring Bryan’s turkey melt and my Boston Crème Pie, the conversation halts. Michael informs us that they are out of sweet tea and that they will give me another drink with no extra charge. The gesture is appreciated but I am grateful when he leaves so that the conversation turns back to Bryan. This time he wants to tell me about his family.
He skips the part about telling me about how he stopped using marijuana. I already know that he wanted to be a better role model for his younger siblings and I also know that He gets cravings when his friends are smoking around him and that even though they try to convince him to take a hit, that’s it’s hard for him to ‘just say no’, but he does it anyway.
For Bryan, even now that he’s drug free, the struggle continues. Not only does he still have friends who use marijuana and try to convince him to use it, but his two younger brothers, Jake* and James* have now gotten in the habit of using marijuana. Jake is a senior in high school and James is an eighth grader, much the same as Bryan the first time that I met him.
“I wish that I could talk to them,” Bryan said.
It would do them well to listen to him because he has experience with the life that they are currently living. Will Bryan’s experiences have an effect on his younger brothers? Or has it already had a negative effect on them? Only time will tell how much Jake and James follow in his footsteps.
As dinner ends we say goodbye and I can’t help but hope that his brother’s follow in his footsteps because now Bryan can not only share his story, but he can learn from it.
*Names were changed
-A. Dennison
No trackbacks yet.