Jared was at the dump searching for glass. Flies feasted on the rotting fruit. The bright sun intensified the foul odour of decomposing milk. He wore a cloth mask over his mouth and black mesh gloves. With the sleeve of his tunic, he wiped the sweat of his brow. He'd walked home on the dry dirt.
A black car pulled over, and Osa exited his car. "Jared! You owe me money! When am I going to get it?" Osa screamed at Jared. Jared knew Osa through Noah.
Jared's heart thundered in his chest. He clutched the emptier side of his pocket. "I'll get it to you at the end of the week. I promise you."
Osa's hand shot out, seizing Jared by the throat. Pain bloomed across Jared's windpipe as his face flushed crimson. He gasped, kicking out weakly until Osa released him with a sneer—and a spit to the cheek. "No ifs, no buts," Osa growled, then stormed back to his car and vanished.
Jared rubbed his throat and tasted blood. A week to find the money. He thought of his paintings sitting unsold at the market—who wanted art when the cartel had tourists running scared?
He reached home to his hut, and he pushed the red curtain in front of the room out of the way. His mother lay on the hammock.
Jared removed a key from the pocket of his pants and approached the safe on the table. Turned the key inside the hole of the safe, and the door opened wide. In the safe were bottles of medicines and a syringe.
He reached for the syringe, checked the dose, and carried it to his mother's side. She flinched at the sight, wrinkling her nose, but opened her mouth as he squirted the bitter fluid onto her tongue. She coughed, but she swallowed it, wiping her lips with the back of her hand.
His sister Kerra entered the hut; carrying bags of groceries. "Can I trust you to take care of Mom when I leave for Tiki City?"
"How long will you be there for Kerra?" Jared raised an eyebrow.
"For about a month. I'll be staying with a friend, and I'll be job searching within the city."
"I can take care of mom," Jared responded.
"Where have you been getting Mom's medicine? It works so well for her pain."
Jared sighed. Couldn't tell her that because they had no medical insurance and that he'd been buying it from a drug dealer.
"Don't worry about where I get it. What matters is that mom isn't suffering."
He closed the safe, pocketed the key, and knelt by his mother's hammock. Her face in sleep was gaunt, the skin pulled taut over sharp cheekbones. He reached out, brushed a strand of hair from her brow. She didn't stir, but her lips moved slightly, forming silent words he'd never hear.