i think i've lost faith in people. well, not all, but those who deal drugs. in all my time i've never come across a bad deal and despite all the testimonials ive heard of shitty drugs circulating in various circles, i've trusted that those skillful producers would pull out the goods. it's what they do. it's how they get by. i think if you're a producer you want your goods to be solid gold to have the customers coming back for more. it's always about maintaining a good repertoire if you want to be known. it's like any other business strategy, except this one provides a service and/or goods that is illegal according to your federal legislators.

sunday evening i got home from ottawa and was left with no drugs. even the rainy day stash went up in smoke while visiting some chums in the nation's capital. being so obsessive-compulsive about making sure there is drugs on me, i always stock up prior to the existing stash running out. unfortunately i broke this rule over the weekend and needed to set everything straight before monday morning was upon me. unfortunately my link now has 'business hours' as if he's trying to take his operations legit. sunday night the operators are not standing by.

so i dial up the weed 411 directory. this is an old chum from my high school days who knows the scene inside/out. he's the sort of contact everyone needs to have for a variety of purposes; not only drug related. there was a time when we were good friends but for whatever reason, we've drifted apart over recent years. now i only call in my dire time of need and when he calls, i tend to ignore him. there was a time i would call him; pretend to care and actually meet up for a few minutes before getting the phone number and the drugs. now he understands the intentions of my calls and after a quick exchange of meaningless pleasantries, a phone number is given and we go about our own business.

i call up the mysterious phone number and within 60 seconds the verbal agreement is made and a location is chosen. it's a 15 minute drive but that gives me enough time to call up another chum to tell him to put on his pants and wait for my grand arrival at a nearby plaza within 25-30 minutes. this gives him aqequate time to put those pants on.

fifteen minutes later--more less--i arrive at the agreed upon location and am waiting in the idling car when a figure emerges out of the woods. given the fact no one else would emerge out of those woods at this hour, it must be the drug man. i nod my head, he responds with a nod and i get all giddy inside. i get out of the car, walk up to him, ask nothing, hand the money and he hands the goodies. i think i thanked him, i don't remember. i shove the drugs in my coat pocket and race to meet the chum who is getting his pants on.

i get to plaza only to find it vacant. i guess he has yet to put his pants on. rather than idling and wasting time in the parking lot, i drive down the street i expect him to be on. low and behold, he's there shuffling along with his pants on. he jumps in the car and we are on your way to nearby schoolyard where i can car the park between the portables and do our thang.

in the school yard, i empty the contents of my coat pocket to feel the little baggie a little softer than it normally ought to. i open it up and sniffing it reminds me of a certain herb. the kind often i taste when eating italian or greek food. yes that's right. i paid $20 for two dimes of oregano. if it was in fact drugs, he would have been rather generous compared to the rest of them. there was no use in calling the seller as being taken for a fool was humiliating enough. call to let him know that would further contribute to laughter on his side.

after yelling out obscenities until i lost my voice or i spiralled into great sadness for being let down two fold: first, weed 411 gave me a bad connection and the connection had the balls to take my money in exchange for something i am going to put on my garlic bread. but i must give credit where credit is due and entrepreneurial scam that he's running. either that, or i am that big of a sucker that he detected that ahead of time in our brief exchange on the phone. either way, the incident is developing a degree of humour to it.

it could be that weed 411 got tired of my calls only in dire moments of needs and played me for a fool. maybe this was a scheme planned out well in advance next time that inevitable call came. i've never doubted weed 411 over the past 24 months because he's been a god sent in this area of networking. after all, thanks to weed 411 the guy who is no longer available on sunday nights has been a dream come true for last little while. i am sort of at a loss at what level i was betrayed at and am pondering whether a call to weed 411 is due. after all, there was a time i called him a good friend and he did likewise. maybe he can shed some light onto my anger and why the loss of the twenty bucks isn't the issue. this is a trust issue and the people i've always put on the pedestal as the superlative business people have lost that status.

now, there is no one you can trust.