Jack and Mike called me one night, and asked if I was interested in coming to the diner with them. I don’t remember what I had been doing that day, but I was tired and planning on heading to bed early. Maybe I had just eaten and was full. Whatever the excuse, I begged off and went to bed. Some time later, before I had fallen asleep, I got a call from Jack, who was in the diner’s bathroom. He explained that the people at the booth next to them had begun to suspect that Jack was a heroin addict, and he’d started going along with it and playing it up. He said he was going to return from the bathroom with his sleeve unbuttoned and wrinkled, having just been rolled up. He wanted me to be the finishing touch to the act, by coming down and posing as his dealer.
This was enough to get me out of bed, and forgo any sleep that I might have needed. I made sure to park in sight of their table, and went inside. I went to their table, and after the type of brief and awkward conversation that is unique to drug deals, we went out to my truck, leaving Mike in the booth. In the truck we talked normally, but continued to pantomime doing something behind the dashboard. Jack made sure to flash a little cash. After a minute or so, Jack left to go back to his food, and I drove back home to go to bed.
I really love that we made someone’s night a little surreal.