Roxy Blues
n/a
by
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Jeremy awoke to the sound of a car door slamming. Then he heard another door slam. He bolted upright, sprang out of bed, and ran to the door. He turned on the outside light and opened the door. When he walked outside he saw two cars in the driveway and saw a stranger walking towards him, with Sally ten feet behind.
Jeremy’s smile turned to a frown.
“Who are you?” he demanded.
Slim stopped in his tracks, realizing what was about to happen. As Sally was rushing to get in between the two men, Slim responded,
“My name’s Slim,” and then, though he knew full well who it was, he asked, “Who are you?”
“What are you doin’ here, Jeremy?” Sally demanded. “When did you get out?”
Her tone of voice was not welcoming, warm or even close to friendly.
“Who’s he, Sally?”
“He’s a friend.” She turned to Slim and said, “You’d better go.”
Before Slim had time to leave, Jeremy persisted,
“No, who the fuck is he, Sally? What’s going on here!”
“That’s none of your business, Jeremy! You haven’t been around for five months and now all of a sudden you show up and think everything is going to be just like it was? It isn’t!”
Sally got in between the two men and said to Slim, “Go! Now!”
Slim stood his ground at first, but then walked backwards, very slowly, toward his car, keeping his eyes on Jeremy as he did so. Jeremy walked towards him, keeping the same distance between the two men. Sally stayed in between them, facing Jeremy, keeping her arms up, pushing against Jeremy’s chest, to stop his advance. He threw her hands to the side several times and kept walking.
“So who is he, Sally! You found yourself a boyfriend, did you?”
“He’s just a friend, let him go. I’ll explain later,” she responded, in a softer tone of voice, trying to lower the tensions that were escalating.
“Oh yeah? I doubt that! Hey, you! Come back here!”
Slim reached his car, opened the passenger side door, reached underneath the seat and pulled out a Smith & Wesson 45. Then he sneered,
“I ain’t goin’ anywhere, Mister, and you’d better watch your mouth!”
Jeremy saw the gun and stopped.
“This is my house! Get your fucking ass off my property! Now!”
“What you gonna do, little man? Call the police?”
Jeremy’s mind was racing. All he’d wanted to do was make love to his wife and see his baby. He wasn’t ready for this.
“You put that gun down and I’ll kick your fucking ass, that’s what I’ll do!”
“Oh yeah? You and who else you scrawny, little mother-fucker!”
Sally stayed in between the two men, but Jeremy kept moving forward, pushing her out of the way, but she managed to stay in the middle. The men were less than six feet from each other. Jeremy stopped. The two men stared menacingly at each other.
“Okay! That’s it! You get out of here, Slim! And you go back into the house, Jeremy! Now!” Sally shrieked. She put her hands on Jeremy again, pushing hard on his chest. He pushed her away, again, but this time she fell down. Jeremy stopped when he was a foot away from the gun which was pointed in his face and said,
“I ain’t afraid of you! Go ahead, pull the fucking trigger! You fucking coward! Steal a man’s wife while he’s in jail!”
Slim pulled back the hammer until it clicked and said,
“Make one fucking move towards me and I’ll blow your head off, mother fucker!”
The two men stood their ground, neither moving an inch, glaring at each other, less than a foot apart. As they did, they heard,
“Yes, this is Sally Thibodeaux. I need a deputy out here now! Somebody’s about to get killed!”
Though both men heard what she had said, neither moved and neither looked away. Slim thought to himself that he’d better get out of there before the law arrived. He had some things in the car he’d rather they not find.
Jeremy thought to himself that he didn’t want the law coming to his house for any reason. He didn’t want to do anything that would put him back behind bars. Despite that, neither made the first move, until Slim slowly released the hammer, and said,
“Don’t do anything stupid, little man. The law’s gonna be here any minute.”
He took a few steps sideways, angling to get around the car and into the driver’s seat, while keeping the gun pointed at Jeremy’s head, not saying another word.
Jeremy looked him straight in the eye and said,
“Get your fucking ass out of here and don’t come back!”
Slim opened the door with his other hand, while keeping the gun pointed at Jeremy, got in, started the engine, and peeled out of the driveway, leaving Jeremy standing where he was and Sally still sitting on the ground with her cell phone in hand, giving directions.
“Tell them not to come, Sally. I don’t want the law here.” Jeremy said sternly.
“It’s too late for that, Jeremy. They’re on their way. Yes, I’ll stay on the line. Yes, I’m safe now, I think. Yes, that’s right, about a mile behind the Dollar Store.”
Jeremy was angry, and hurt. His heart was pounding. He didn’t know what to say or do, but he knew that he’d better get out of there before the police arrived.
“Where’s my truck?” he demanded.
“I sold it.” Sally replied, defiantly.
“You sold it?” he said, accusingly.
“That’s right! I needed the money, Jeremy! We didn’t have any!”
Jeremy didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to be there when the police got there. He was afraid of what he might say or do.
“Give me the keys to your car!”
“No!”
“Give me the keys to your car, Sally! My name’s on it, too!”
“No! Then what will I do for a car?”
“Sally, give me the damn keys! I’ll go over to my mother’s house and leave you alone. We can figure all of this out tomorrow!”
They heard the siren of the approaching police car.
“Too late now, Jeremy! You’re going back to jail!”
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About the Book
Jeremy and Sally Thibodeaux are clammers from Cedar Key, Florida. After Jeremy suffers a herniated disc in his lumbar spine at work one day, while avoiding a menacing Bull Shark, his treating physician prescribes Roxy Contin to relieve the pain. It is an extremely effective pain killing medication. Sally begins taking the pills after she is injured as a result of a slip and fall incident at a local retail store.
When the medical treatment ends, and the the doctor refuses to continue to prescribe the pills, Jeremy begins buying the drug from a friend, at a much higher cost. They like the pills with the most Oxycodone in them, 30 milligrams, which provide the most immediate relief. Those pills are bluish in color and on the street they’re called Roxy Blues.
Jeremy is incarcerated after buying drugs from an undercover police officer and his life spirals downward, as does Sally’s. This story, though it is fictionalized, is based upon the lives of real people. It is a story about a problem that is killing people and ruining lives in epidemic proportions all over our country. It is a story about what could happen to any of us.
About the Author
Pierce Kelley is a lawyer and educator turned author who received his undergraduate degree from Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana in 1969. He received his Doctorate of Jurisprudence (JD) from the George Washington University, Washington, D.C. in 1973. Following his admission to the Florida Bar, Pierce began his legal career as an Assistant Public Defender in Clearwater, Florida. In 1979 he moved to West Virginia and became the managing attorney of a legal services office in a rural five county area in the northeast corner of the state called the Potomac Highlands. In 1985, Pierce returned to Miami, where he was raised, and served as an Assistant Federal Public Defender for the Southern District of Florida.
Since 1986 Pierce has worked exclusively in the area of civil law, concentrating on personal injury, consumer and family law matters. He has served as lead counsel in over 100 jury trials and has successfully argued before the Supreme Court of Florida and the Supreme Court of Appeals for the State of West Virginia. He is currently an active member of the Florida Bar and an inactive member of the West Virginia Bar Association. He is admitted to practice in the United States District Courts for the Southern, Middle and Northern Districts of Florida and the United States Supreme Court, though he has yet to have an opportunity to do so. He is now a sole practitioner in Cedar Key, Florida.
Pierce began writing in 1989 when a freak accident in a softball game caused him a broken ankle. While convalescing, he wrote A Parent's Guide to Coaching Tennis, which was recognized by the United States Tennis Association as being the perfect introduction and primer for parents of beginning players. Over a span of 50 years, Mr. Kelley was a nationally-ranked player as a junior, in the open Men's Division, and as a senior. He was also the president of the Youth Tennis Foundation of Florida from 1987 until 2007.
In 2000, Pierce authored his second book, Civil Litigation: A Case Study, while teaching paralegal students as an Adjunct Professor at St. Petersburg College in St. Petersburg, Florida. He taught at various colleges and universities as an Adjunct for over 25 years.
Pierce began writing his first novel, A Very Fine Line, in 2001. Since then eight more have followed, which are Fistfight at the L and M Saloon, A Plenary Indulgence, Bocas del Toro, Asleep at the Wheel, A Tinker's Damn!, A Foreseeable Risk, and Thousand Yard Stare, plus Pieces to the Puzzle, which is a collection of personal essays, and Kennedy Homes: An American Tragedy, which is an account of a major Fair Housing case Mr. Kelley was involved in during the years 2004 and 2007. Father, I Must Go, published in 2011, is a work of non-fiction. Roxy Blues is his ninth novel.
For further biographical information, you may visit his website at www.piercekelley.com