Chapter 46
<Jasper Coven>
Arms laden with curtains and bedspreads, I follow my mom around Macy's as she picks out options for our big move to Austin. She and Ashley just closed a deal on a big house in the suburbs and I just leased an apartment down the street from my rehab specialist. Isaac got it cleared with the courts last week, so I could move to Austin to work on my music and still fulfill my rehab and parole requirements. He took me out to breakfast yesterday to explain the process and give me a file with the contracts and schedule.
"Jasper, would you like this comforter for your apartment?" My mom calls from across the bedding area.
"I thought we were shopping for you, mama." I chuckle as I make my way towards her.
"I want to get you a couple of things. I know you haven't been working and I want your new apartment to feel like home." My mom holds up a baby blue comforter and navy sheets. "So?"
"I'd love them," I say as she adds them to the pile in my arms.
"We'll finish your shopping tomorrow, baby, as for now we should probably check out so we can meet Ashley and Sophie for lunch back in Everington."
I nod as I follow her to the cash register where a bored looking salesman rings up our goods and asks how our experience was. My mom carries on polite conversation until she is prompted to put her card into the card-reader. Silence falls as my mom finishes the transaction and grabs our bags. We walk into the bright sunshine and towards our car in the far end of the parking lot. I slip into the passenger seat as she backs out of the parking lot and heads back towards Everington.
After arriving in downtown Everington, my mom stops in front of Evergreen Recovery Specialists, telling me she'll meet me at the diner down the street when I'm done. I slip out of the car and smile at her as I walk in for my treatment. The nurse smiles at me as I sign in and take a seat in the waiting room. A few seats down from me, a woman is sitting and shaking, tears pouring over her checks. I scoot down, taking the seat next to her, and place my hand on her shoulder. She looks up with confusion.
"Are you okay?"
"I've been dope-sick for a week. All I want is my fix but I have to stay on this course. I can't fail again." The woman crumples, frail hands scrubbing at scratched cheeks. "My little marigold needs me."
"How many times have you tried?"
"This is my third. It never worked fast enough, never got rid of the cravings." The woman sniffles and looks up at me. "How long have you been getting treatment?"
"I'm entering my ninth month."
"How did you make it work?"
"For the first three months, I didn't think it would. I was constantly craving heroin but the longer I stuck with it, the weaker the cravings became. It wasn't until last month that they were almost completely gone."
"Do you still crave it? Will the cravings ever be completely gone?"
"Part of my brain is always going to crave it, but I will spend every day for the rest of my life fighting that craving, that's the price I paid for taking it." I reply, running my tongue over my bottom lip. "But I wouldn't trade my recovery for five more minutes of that heroin bliss. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I got my life back because of this recovery and you will too."
"I just don't know how to make it stick. The medicine isn't enough."
I pull a card for my NA leader and hand it to the woman.
YOU ARE READING
A Girl Named Callie
Spiritual*sequel to A Boy Named Jasper* ~~~~~ When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?" (John 5:6) ~~~~~~ Jasper has been in L.A. for almost five years. Not a day w...
