just around the corner

The talk lately around the grease pit at the Tyee Service and Lube these days invariably comes around to Medical Marijuana.  Or what most of the boys call Marital Marijuana.  Gary, the head mechanic, flat out opposes legalizing pot.  He says that’s all he needs, a bunch of dopeheads along with all the artists down here on the South End.  “We might as well call ourselves the People’s Republic of Camano, put everybody on welfare and keep em high as Katmandu kites all day long.’

Ralph works the pumps and does the oil changes.  He wonders if the Stanwoodopolis city council will let dispensaries sell marijuana.  ‘They’d make a fortune off taxes,’ he declares and Gary throws down a grease rag in disgust and twirls his socket wrench like a six-shooter.  ‘Cost em twice as much to take care of all the addicts.’

Two Toke Tom usually doesn’t weigh in on these panel discussions, at least not around Gary, but he opines that nothing much would change except now there’d be some quality control instead of the hit and miss of today’s marketplace.  ‘Sort of like bad moonshine,’ he says and Gary gives him the evil eye like maybe he’s considering urine testing for all future fellow employees.  Pretty quick Two Toke slips over to the pop machine for another jolt of high fructose and caffeine to get him through what looks like a long morning.

‘And WHY do they call it Medical Marijuana anyway??’ Gary bellows.  ‘How many potheads got diseases only dope can cure?  What’s next, you can buy meth instead of coffee? What’s going on here?’  Now it’s Ralph’s turn to shrink away, reflexively aiming at the Mr. Coffee boiling down to pure caffeine.  Ralph has plans to grow legally if laws get lenient.  Course, Ralph grows already, but it would sure make life easier if he could sell to his ‘patients’ without looking over his shoulder for the Island County Sheriff.

Times change, that’s for sure.  Not too much on the South End, although Ralph is daydreaming about using part of the Service and Lube as Dispensary.  Something to think about between oil changes.  Maybe buy the station from Gary when he retires or drops dead of a heart attack.  You never know, he thinks….. You just never know what’s around the corner.

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One Response to “just around the corner”

  1. Allison Warner Says:

    Wanted to make sure you were aware KSER 90.7is starting a second station on Whidbey to include public affairs, volunteer produced music and arts programming….http://www.kser.org/feature/kser-foundations-strategic-vision 😉 .

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