Collections

Benny Horrowitz was sick of it. The junkies, the dealers, the cops. What should've been a dream job had become a chore. Never mind all this nonsense about spaceships and whatever; it was bad enough there was no payoff, not to him anyway. He was sick, tired, and sick and tired of being sick and tired. 

And now he was standing on the porch of the collections house, waiting to get inside. Waiting to get the last of his money and get out of town. Someplace in Europe, probably. 

"Good morning, sugar," a skinny thing in green lingerie. Clean, black hair pulled back in a loose ponytail. "Come inside." 

The door closed behind him and he instantly remembered how much he hated the place: the clay smell of death, the soullessness of the walls. "Down here, Benny." Horrowitz went to the voice and saw Kurt Coles at the kitchen table, where the uppertier distributor slid a chair with his foot for Benny to sit down. And he sat. 

"Offer you anything?" 
"Naw," said Benny, "I'm good." Careful not to rush anything, Horrowitz let Coles lead. 

The distributor was packing up a small batch of heroin, a rarity in this day and age, but not an impossibility for those with the means. "I thought I'd have this done 'fore you got here. Guess I'm slackin' in old age." 
"Yeah, no biggie," said the junior, knowing his place. "I can wait." 

"The man can wait. How you like that, Desiree? The man can wait."  
The woman in the green lingerie laughed in a high pitch. "Oh, don't be a sonofabitch, Kurt. He didn't come here 'cause you got jokes." "Yeah..." 

"What!" in the corner, Blue Diamond, startled out of his nod. "What fuck's going on? I'ma beat somebody's ass!" "Be cool, be cool, Blue Boy. We just handlin' a little bizness." "I was 'sleep." "Well, go back to it, my man. Make ya dreams come true." The dope fiend closes his eyes. "I was 'sleep..." 
Shaking his head to some unseen rhythm, Kurt says, "That one is something else..." "Yeah," agrees Benny. "But he always brings the bread," said Kurt. "Yeah," agrees Benny. "Well," looking at the stash in front of him, "I guess this can wait, huh?" "Whatever," says Benny. 
"Well, look," says Kurt, "I got some bad news." He pauses. "Now, I ain't tryin' ta scam you, but I can't pay you today." Seeing the disappointment Benny's face, "I'll have it. Maybe, like, a week? It's only, the money' tied up in investments right now. It ain't mine to touch." Benny starts to get up. "Wait, wait," says Kurt. But Benny's heard enough. He knows they know he's leaving, and he knows they won't kill him on top of robbing him. Besides, he's still got ten grand stashed in the radiator.... 

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