Fire and pharmacists

“There went my pharmacist… my former pharmacist.”

The same reruns have been on B.E.T. for the last 3 months. For some reason my older brother is obsessed with this show about drugs. It seems like every time I peek in I see the same two scenes. In one of them, the policeman pulls a man into the cop car and his friend starts saying something about his pharmacist. In the other scene there are some guys lighting a fire underneath a spoon. I don’t really know what’s going on.

The truth is that I have no idea what’s going on with my brother at all these days. Ever since he joined the basketball team he’s been a different person. Only a few months ago we’d listen to MxPx together all the time. Yesterday I heard him listening to music from some rap crap called “Two-pack Shaker.”

My brother isn’t the only one changing. My sister just made the JV cheer squad. Who knew my sister had any interest in cheerleading anyway? My sister was always one of the girls in the corner reading a book in the corner of the lunch room. Now she carries around a bottled water everywhere she goes and practices the hand motions from her routine with the other girls in the lunch room. The other day she suggested I should start popping my collar.

My mom is on a diet and she started working out again about a month ago. The first week she went to the gym with a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. After the first day she complained about how everyone at the gym wore spandex and how disgusting it was. Yesterday she slipped into a pair of spanks before exercising and I saw more than I’d have liked to before she got in the car.

I guess I don’t really mind any of it, it’s just different. Everyone else changes and I just seem to stay the same. I always assumed that if I stayed the same, eventually everyone would drift in my direction, but it hasn’t happened yet. Maybe it won’t ever happen.

I walked back into the living room and found my brother watching the same movie. It wasn’t one of the scene I’d witnessed before, but it still had someone lighting a fire under a spoon. When he handed the spoon’s contents to someone for a fistful of cash my curiosity was piqued, but it waned after a few seconds and I walked out.

As I was pondering, I slowly through the garage and saw a red can next to the lawn mower. The mix of fuel and oil wasn’t quite as pleasing as pure gasoline, but the scent inspired me. I poured out the contents and dropped a match.

Flames towered from the garage and members of my family ran out of the house and slowly backpedaled towards me on street as they watched the fire consume our car and other precious belongings.

Everyone else was horrified, but I wouldn’t help but crack a smile. For the first time in my life everyone was drifting towards me.
-David Lake