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Tea Time at 420

Luis ran with fire on his feet. Each step against the blacktop sent pulsing vibrations up and down his calves. He hugged the box closer to his chest, tossing quick glances over his shoulders every few seconds. No one was behind him. Thank Gods!

He returned his attention in front of him. He hoped it stayed that way. He was lucky to have lost them back downtown; he would have been caught for sure if he hadn't jumped on the metro in time. He shuddered; he heard what happened to folk who got their names on the book. You could get away with this shit if you were careful in America, but this was Japan, and if you were snagged in Japan you were in for it knee-deep. Big or small, no matter how much you carried, was serious business. And the fines – dear Father in Heaven – the fines were outrageous. He couldn't afford to pay the fines. Not when he got himself a nice little job at the barber's and put the money toward paying rent on the flat.

But was it so wrong to have a little bit more? Just a couple more ounces? Yeah, he promised his mom and dad, hell even his sister, but he'd been getting the Crave. The Crave wasn't satisfied with his efforts. You want to get better, right? You want to go to college, get that degree you've been puttin' off since the docs saw fit to discharge you from the hospital, so why not have me one last time before you hit the books and we can forget this never happened? Whaddaya say, Luis ole pal?

Oh, he resisted. He refused the temptation, he really did. But the Crave fought back, pushed him against a wall and put the pipe to his lips, and now it was having its way with him. Pleasuring the Crave like birds snatching shiny luxuries when the silly humans were looking the other way.

He should have taken better care watching his movements, should have found a better hiding spot that wasn't so close to private properties. But when you were dancing with the Crave, there was nothing you could do. You had to keep with the groove or else you'd step on some toes, and you didn't want to step on the Crave's toes, nosirree. You step on the Crave, the Crave will step on you.

Luis would have kicked himself, but he couldn't risk the chance to stop and do so. They could still be following him. Didn't this town have its own K-9 unit? Hell if he knew. The last thing he wanted to do was get paired in a cell with some guy in drag who had a penchant for getting the most cavity searches because he withheld dulled razors in his cheeks on purpose. Not to mention meeting said guy in the showers—

A dog barked in the distance. Luis stomped on the scream clawing at his throat. He tore across the street, glanced over his shoulder again. His foot twisted and he fell with a crash. He rolled to a stop.

Oh Gods they're going to get me, this it is, game's over, man, time's up, put your hands behind your head—

He swallowed thickly, panted in-out in-out in-out through clenched teeth. He looked down and saw the package was still in his arms. He sat up, glanced behind him a third time. No one. Not a man or dog in sight. Jesus Christ, was that close!

Sweat dripped into his eyes. He wiped them with the back of his hand. He rose to his feet and absorbed his surroundings. He was in a residential area filled with two-storey houses, recycle bins on the curb, and pink flamingos guarding mowed, green lawns. It looked like a nice, quiet area.

It wouldn't be for long if he kept moseying around like this. The dogs would be – no, probably are on his trail, right now. The cops roaring through the suburbs in their big-ass Suzuki Jimmys, sirens whooping, rubbers squealing.

He had to move. He had to freaking move!

But not with the package. Oh no. That package would get him in a whole world of trouble. He couldn't be seen with it. He couldn't even be found smelling like it.

What to do, what to do…? Think, Luis, think!

A light bulb clicked on in his head. That's it! He willed his legs into motion, toward a house with a slanted roof and front-facing garage. There were some magnolia bushes by the walkway winding up to the front entrance. Holding the box out with both hands, Luis lunged across the lawn like a baseball player sliding toward second base. He hit the ground, picked himself up and continued the rest of the way in a staggering crouch-run. When he got there, he pushed the bushes aside and tucked the box in its eaves, making sure it was well out of sight.

Good, part one was done. He could breathe a little easier, but not yet. Luis patted his jean pockets and retrieved a bottle of AXE body spray. He yanked off the cap and proceeded to douse himself in a fine amorphous mist. When he started to reek of squeezed lemons instead of smoke and B.O., he burned the house's address to memory and hauled his sorry hide away as if a volcano had just erupted behind him.

He'd come back for it. He'd wait for the neighborhood to wake up and the parents walk their kids to school. Then, when they were gone – really gone, you could never be too sure how parents plan their days when John and Jane weren't around – he'd sneak back and retrieve the package. He'd pawn it off to some shmuck looking for a hit and he would never have to look at the blasted thing ever again.

First things first: he had to get outta town and find a place to lay low….

A couple hours later, in that very same house, an alarm clock buzzed to life with a series of ear-piercing beeps.

"Yui!" cried a girlish voice. "Yui, it's time to wake up!"

A lump beneath pink satin sheets shifted and rolled in place. A groan emanated from the cover of warm darkness.

"Yui!" the voice rang again ten minutes later. "Yui, are you awake? It's time to get up!"

Another groan answered the call. A hand slipped from the sheets and slapped the air clumsily, presumably for the alarm clock. Not a minute later the hand stopped and retreated into the folds where it came from.

Fifteen minutes passed. The alarm was still beeping.

"Come on, Yui," Hirasawa Ui whined as she walked into her older sister's bedroom, fully dressed in her uniform. "We're going to be late for school." She put a hand on what she assumed was Yui's shoulder.

The lump curled itself up in a ball. "Five more minutes...'m so tired…couldn't sleep…."

"That's right," said Ui. "You and your friends are working on a new song. Well, you can't help them if you're not present at the meeting."

"Jus' a li'l longer, Ui…."

Ui sighed. She turned off the alarm and tossed the sheets off Yui's body. "Let's go, sis. Up and at 'em. Come on."

Yui raised her arms over her head, blocking out the light. "No, Ui," she said groggily. "No, don't do this…."

"You don't leave me much choice, I'm afraid. Now hurry up and get ready. Gitah's waiting!" At the sound of her instrument's name, Yui forced herself from the thick haze of sleep. Ui made a good point: how were the others going to learn of her progress if she and Gitah weren't there to show them? As precious as sleep was, school (to her dismay) was top priority.

Another fifteen minutes elapsed before Yui was fully changed, washed up, and fed for the first half of the school day. Although she was still caught herself drifting off as she readied herself, she was cognitive to not forget her guitar and the notes she spent pouring over well into the late hours of the night.

Yui gave them cursory glances while she stuffed them among the rest of her schoolwork in her briefcase. Her writing was all over the place, not just figuratively but literally. Upside-down, right-side up, sideways, even backwards, big and small, within the lines and across the margin, as if the words couldn't stay in one place. Although it made sense that there was no structure, because Yui and the other girls in the light music club knew she was downright awful when it came to composing lyrics. Mio wasn't really any better, either, but it gave the older Hirasawa some comfort that, when you boiled it down to basic semantics, everyone tried their best.

"Yui, are you ready?" Ui called from the sidewalk. She was waiting for Yui to finish strapping on her shoes. "Do you need help with that?"

"No thank you," said Yui through a tremendous yawn. She rubbed her eyes with a fist. "I've got it…go on without me, Ui…."

"Nonsense! I'm staying right here. The bell's going to ring soon, anyway; we might as well not rush and take our time."

Yui sniffed. "You're too kind, Ui, but I don't want that to happen. There," she tugged on the strap and rose. "I'm set! Let's get moving before we're really laaaaate—!" She was cut short as she lost her balance and crashed face-first to the ground.

"Sis!" Ui cried. She dropped her own briefcase and ran up the lawn. "Sis, are you okay?"

Yui sat up and rubbed her head. When she pulled her hand away, she saw there were tiny specks of blood on her fingers. She grimaced. "I hope so. That woke me up!"

"Hold still, sis," said Ui. She retrieved a tissue from her breast pocket and applied pressure to the elder's forehead. "There. Give it a minute, this should stop it. Are you sure you're alright? That was quite a spill you took."

Yui wanted to nod, but she didn't want to disturb the younger girl's ministration. "I feel fine. Except…I think I tripped on something."

"You probably got up too fast."

"No, that wasn't it. My foot slipped on the corner there." She gestured with her speckled hand the edge of the porch, which was covered in ripe magnolia bushes.

Ui hummed thoughtfully. "Let's see." She returned the tissue to her pocket and walked over to the shrubs. She got down on one knee and searched through the blossoms. "What's this?" The girl rose. In her hands was a small rectangular box wrapped in crumpled brown paper.

"That must be what I tripped on," said Yui, joining her sister's side.

"That's odd," said Ui as she examined the box, "I don't see an address, not even a postmark. I wonder how it got here."

"Maybe Mugi left it by accident." Tsumugi always brought some type of confectionary when she and the other members of the light music club were invited to study and do homework.

Ui wrinkled her nose. "I don't know. It smells funny, like lemons…and" another whiff and she turned her head away "ugh, soiled gym socks."

Yui tapped a curious finger to her chin. "Then…who could it belong to?"

"This could be garbage for all we know. Here, go put this in the recycle bins. We'll put it through the incinerator after school." Ui passed the box to Yui and went to go fetch her briefcase.

Yui stared at the box for what seemed to be an eternity, but it was only a few seconds. Realization suddenly dawned on her face. "Ui! What if I bring this to school? Maybe the mail carrier dropped it here by mistake. Someone could be expecting it and they wouldn't even know it's missing!"

"If that were the case, it would've gone back through the sorting hall the second they saw there wasn't anything on it," said Ui. "Now come on, we only have a few minutes before classes start!"

Yui yelped, almost dropping the package. How could she forget? She snatched her case, adjusted Gitah, and ran to catch up with her sister, said box clutched at her hip. Someone had to know where it came from, and maybe that someone was looking for it right now. The only way to find out was to patrol every nook and cranny in the school and ask.