Page 106 of Pot Shot
“Did you finish yourfirstyear in pharmacy school?” Mike’s eyebrows are high as he exchanges looks with each of the zoning commissioners in turn.
“No.”
“Your first semester?”
“No.”
“Why is that, Ms. Wyeth? Too hard for you?”
I was sick, you fuck! I was hospitalized for a systemic allergic reaction to the medication I was on! I nearly died!
“I… I guess you could say that.” I look at my hands, trembling on my lap.
“So, you’re not a pharmacist?”
“No.”
“Will Stranger Drugs be licensed by the New Jersey Board of Pharmacy?”
“No.”
“Hm,” Mike says simply. “Are you on drugs right now, Ms. Wyeth?”
“Objection!” Vinny yells, suddenly coming back to life.
Mike raises both hands. “No judgment, sweetheart, but I saw you pop a pill twenty minutes ago, and you don’t look uh… very put together?”
My mouth drops open. “That’s over-the-counter medication! I’m—I’mnotfeeling well, it’s true. I’m very nervous.”
The Commission stares at me with shocked disapproval.
“Are you on marijuana right now, Ms. Wyeth?”
“No!” I yell, just as Vinny bellows, “Objection! You gotta be kidding me!”
My eyes well with tears as the audience murmurs in a collective strain of anxiety.
“Listen!” I spin to face the Commissioners. “Mike Tonuto is only trying to get me shut down so that it’ll hurt his brother, Sammy DiFiore. He doesn’twantmy dispensary to drive up business for him. And he put Julian up to filing the zoning complaint against me in the first place!”
Tonuto cranks out a laugh and shakes his head. “Commissioners, I recuse myself from every issue involving my half brother, Sammy DiFiore,and I wish him all the best. Frankly, the connection Ms. Wyeth is positing here is so tenuous, it makes me question her…mindset.” He arches an eyebrow meaningfully, then stops in front of the witness stand where I sit. He smacks it with the flat of his heavy palm, his pinky ringclink’ing against the wood. “Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you, isthisthe face that Sparrow Nook wants to display to guests on our beloved Main Street? Because let’s face it, Stranger Drugs is no pharmacy. This is one woman’s exploitation of our sick and elderly via the legalized use of mind-altering drugs. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want stoners like her onmyMain Street.” He gestures at me with a pitying scorn. “Thank you.”
The room erupts. Julian, on his feet, pointing and yelling. Mr. Gutierrez cursing. Eve tries to rush Tonuto in something like a tackle, Graham holding her back. All my friends and family and clients coming to my aid, as if there’s anything left of me to save.
I slip off the stand and run to the bathroom before anyone can stop me.
The Commission’s decision is announced twenty minutes later, I learn via text.
Approvaldenied.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
JULIAN
Nomi?” I knock on the restroom door. “Can I come in?”
“No!” Nomi’s voice is thick and muddy from tears. “I’m fine! I just want to be alone.”
Down the hall by the exit, the security guard eyes me warily. City Hall rapidly emptied after the zoning commission announced its decision, and it’s late. “We have to go,” I say gently. “The guards are waiting for us to leave so they can lock up and go home.”
