Chapter 6: Doogie and Donkey

In order to get weed I had to find a new source. I was not even selling weed anymore at this point. I just needed weed to smoke. P.J. and my former crew made that difficult.

That summer before Senior year, in order to keep me out of trouble, my dad gave me a job working for him as a house painter. I was only doing entry level tasks like covering floors with paper and tape and cleaning up but I managed to earn a little money.

My parents did not want to give me all the money at once for obvious reasons, so they staggered it out, giving me a little each month for things like going to the movies or the skate park.

Of course, majority of the time I was not actually going to the movies or skate park. I was spending the money on weed.

I ended up saving money up over time with the plan of getting back in business. I had heard about a group of stoners who met at a house across the street from the school, but I did not know the kid who lived there.

I had seen the kid walk right past the school security every day at lunch and go to a house nearby. Sometimes he was alone so I assumed it must be his house.

One day I decided to follow him. I waited until the security guards were busy checking a group of student's off grounds passes and I quickly climbed an adjacent fence. I was up and over before they even looked up. I crept behind some parked cars before I was safely out of view. I searched frantically to see which house the kid went in. I saw him turn and go up a driveway and into a garage attached to a two-story home covered in white wood paneling. I could see he left the garage door open.

Inside the garage were several colorful folding beach chairs and a beat-up couch in front of an old school box television with silver antennas. In one corner was an old desk and a pile of boxes. The light shown through a large window facing the backyard.

I stood outside the house on the cracked concrete sidewalk gathering the courage to go try and talk to him. A group of underclassmen from school came up behind me on the sidewalk. I recognized one of them as the younger brother of one of my friends named Taylor. I had even sold weed to him in the past.

I started talking to Taylor and played it off like I was part of their group as they walked into the garage. No one really said anything, but the kid who lived there did eventually ask me:

“Who the fuck are you?”

He did not mind my appearance once he know I had money for weed.

I came to discover they met on a weekly basis to put cash together to buy weed. When they put their money together, they could afford a bigger amount, and everyone got a better share. Similar to what Mark and I did years earlier but on a larger scale.

They always bought from some new guy from the nearby town Hermosa Beach. I had never really seen the dealer without his helmet on, but I knew he rode a motor scooter, and the weed was good. I thought maybe if I threw in with this group a few times I could meet him for myself.

Over time I got to know the group a bit better.

We would all meet at the house across the street from the school during lunch. The house belonged to a kid we called Doogie Howser.

Doogie was supposedly half Hawaiian, but he looked like your average white teen with a suntan. He had spiked, freshly styled dark hair. He wore polo and collared shirts with fancy wrist watches. He was the type of guy who probably posed in the mirror after he added the last layer of gel to his hair. When he smiled, he had big front teeth with a slight gap that reminded me of the Disney character Goofy.

Doogie had been promoted grades in school several times and was really supposed to be a freshman. He was already scheduled to graduate at the same time as me. He thought he was smarter than everyone else and had a cocky attitude. He claimed he was going to medical school to become a doctor. Hence the nickname Doogie.

Both his parents were doctors, and they spoiled him rotten. They allowed him to have friends hang out in his garage. They looked the other way and ignored the strong smell of weed constantly coming from the garage. They even signed off so he could have an off-ground pass to walk to the nearby McDonalds or home for lunch. He waltzed right through security while the rest of us had to jump a fence or run past guards.

Doogie was friends with the scooter guy. He always gathered the cash from everyone and organized the deal in his garage. We would all hear the loud motor from the scooter and know the dealer was here. Doogie would run out to the street and meet the mysterious scooter rider while the rest of us waited in his garage. Doogie swore otherwise but I am pretty sure he took an extra cut for himself for his time.

We all sat in the garage and talked bullshit. Sometimes there was music or video games. The group consisted of a few odd characters.

I met everyone through Taylor. Taylor was the younger brother of one of my best friends growing up. He wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. He was your typical blond surfer type. Tan skin, sun blistered lips and resting idiot face. The cliche for our neighborhood.

Taylor was buddies with the twins Johnny and Timmy. They were technically identical twins, but Timmy was a bit chubby. Johnny grew his dirty blond hair out long while Timmy had a buzz cut. The two of them were always getting into trouble. They had discovered where their mother was stashing money in a closet in their apartment and started slowly taking it in small amounts in hope their mom wouldn't notice. Each time they spent the money on weed.

There was also Doogie’s best friend Jason who was a freshman and the tallest person in our group at six foot four. He was skinny and had long legs and lanky arms. One of his arms was slightly bent due to a birth defect. Despite growing up near the beach, he looked like a vampire with pale white skin. One of his canine teeth came in crooked and looked like a fang. His hair was jet black and his eyes a steely blue.

To finish the group this time was this shady guy nobody really liked called Donkey. Donkey was known for stealing weed and ripping people off. His nickname was Donkey because he had long dark hair that ran along both sides of his face and resembled the floppy donkey ears of Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. He also had bucked horse teeth like a donkey. He too had resting idiot face. I think he was just an idiot.

Donkey had actually embraced the nick name and made donkey noises as he walked down the halls of school past people he knew or girls he wanted to know.

"Heehaw!"

Every time he spoke it sounded like he had a nose full of boogers. That was his other nickname, Boogers.

Donkey/Boogers overheard Taylor and the Twins planning to meet at Doogie’s house earlier in the day and invited himself to throw in on our purchase. I think Doogie was a little intimidated by him and did not want to make him leave.

I had thrown in $100. Jason had $80. The twins had $60. Doogie threw in $50. Taylor threw in $20. He was happy with whatever he got.

Donkey had $10 and he expected an entire gram for $10.

Doogie did his usual thing and collected everyone’s money. Then he headed outside.

“What the hell is Donkey doing here?” Jason whispered to me.

Donkey and the twins were focused on playing video games on the old television in the corner. The violent echoes of Mortal Kombat kept our whispers out of range.

I knew Donkey was shady and I did not like him, but I was trying to keep a low profile and avoid making anymore enemies.

“I have no idea; he’s only got ten bucks.” I replied.

“Johnny and Timmy told him we were going to smoke and Donkey invited himself.” Taylor added.

“I think next time we will have to keep things more private.” Jason replied.

Doogie exchanged the money for the weed with the scooter dealer and brought it back to the garage to split up. We heard the scooter's engine fade as he drove off.

Doogie and Jason met at an empty desk and started separating and weighing out the weed with Doogie’s scale.

We were all in the midst of rolling a joint to pass around when suddenly the school security turned the corner and walked up the long driveway. The larger of the two had long blond hair and a cowboy hat. The other was a shorter Mexican guy wearing sunglasses and a red hat with our high school logo on it.

Doogie spotted them and immediately shut the garage door. We watched as they slowly disappeared from sight as the metal door came down.

“Don’t worry guys they can’t come inside if the door is closed.” Doogie reassured us.

The security started banging on the garage door. We all went silent.

“We know you are in there.” one of the security guards shouted from outside.

“Come out now before we are forced to call the police and have you arrested!” the second security guard said with a Mexican accent.

“I am sure the cops would love to lock up a bunch of pot heads!” The first guard added.

Everyone just sort of froze and stood there.

I decided to act on instinct. I told Jason to stash the weed in a nearby drawer.

Then I shouted, “bone out mother fuckers!” and climbed out the open back window, breaking the mesh screen in the process.

In the backyard I jumped the first fence thinking it would lead to the street. Unfortunately, it led to another backyard with potted plants and a small yapping dog.

The homeowner saw me in her backyard and started screaming. I jumped the next fence and finally made it to the street. The screaming woman inside the house had come outside her front door and continued screaming. I stopped for a moment expecting the whole crew of stoners to be following me.

Only one person had.

Jason was smart enough not to stick around. As we stood outside the house where we had each jumped the fence, the owner came out with her ear hugging her cell phone. She was describing us to someone on the phone either the cops or the school.

“One of them has a black shirt that says, “Shut up stupid!” on it. The other one is wearing a black hoody and a hat.”

We took off around the corner. I removed my jacket and hat and placed them in my backpack. Jason turned his shirt inside out so you could no longer see the writing.

I knew the spot in the alley behind the hospital was a place where we could hang out and smoke that was not far away so the two of us fled there. I had a little bit of weed left over but neither of us had gotten our share yet.

Surrounding the alley was a wooded area with lots of trees and bushes. On one side was a steep hill and at the top of the hill was a flat clearing hidden by the plants. You had almost a bird’s eye view of the alley including both entrances.

There was also a nearby fence leading to the hospital parking lot. In an emergency situation, like police showing up to the spot, you could climb the fence and disappear into the hospital parking lot.

This was one of the places I used to smoke with Joseph at. I knew it would be a good place to plan our next move.

We had both thrown in the largest amounts of money on the sack and after smoking the rest of my weed, we decided we would try and go back to Doogie's house to get the weed when the coast was clear.

Jason knew Doogie’s parents. If Doogie wasn’t there, Jason could go knock on the front door and tell them he forgot something in the garage with no trouble.

We walked the long way around back to Doogie’s garage to avoid the house where we jumped the fence.

When we got there, Doogie was still there but the rest of them had left.

“The security took Taylor and the twins.” Doogie informed us.

“I was allowed to stay home since this is my house, and I have an off grounds pass. Everyone else got dragged back to school.” He continued.

"What happened to Donkey?" I asked.

"He ran out the back like you guys did. I thought he was with you." Doogie replied.

“What’s up with the weed?” Jason asked Doogie.

Doogie went over to the drawer we had stashed it in. He pulled it open slowly. He glanced at the drawer and then gave us a surprised look.

“The weed is gone!” Doogie shouted angrily.

It only took a few seconds before we all came to the same conclusion on who the primary suspect was. It had to be Donkey.

“I was distracted with you guys jumping out the window and the security at the door. He must have taken the weed then.” Doogie theorized.

“Does anyone know where he lives?” I asked Doogie.

“I have no idea. Maybe you could text Taylor or the twins?” Doogie suggested.

I quickly sent Taylor a text message, but Taylor did not answer.

"I think Taylor is still in trouble." I told Jason and Doogie after ten minutes of waiting.

Finally, Taylor responded. He was on the way back to class after getting a truancy ticket and a month's worth of detention from the campus police.

I asked if he had any info on Donkey and he said Donkey was sitting in class with him. The idiot had actually gone back to school with all the weed.

“Booya motherfuckers!” I told Jason and Dougie as I revealed Taylor’s text message.

Suddenly I was formulating a plan.

“We have to sneak back onto campus and somehow find Donkey and beat his ass and take back our weed.” I spoke.

Jason quickly agreed but Doogie declined.

“I am staying out of this one guys. You basically would need to sneak onto campus right as the bell rings for passing period. Then somehow find Donkey before he makes it into his next class and force him to give you the weed, assuming he has it on him still.” Doogie informed us.

“The next passing period is in 15 minutes. According to Taylor we know what class he is in.” Jason added.

I text Taylor asking him what class he and Donkey were in. Turns out they had home economics together.

Jason and I left, Doogie wished us luck. As we walked towards the school Doogie called out,

“You guys will hook me up with my $50 sack still, right?”

Down the block Jason and I both quietly said, “Fuck no!”

We entered the school at an entrance further away to avoid running into the security guards who busted Doogie and the group. Luckily it was close to the Home Economics building.

Jason and I stood outside the classroom with two minutes to go. I spotted Donkey through the window and made eye contact. He saw me outside the class and became visually nervous.

“There goes the element of surprise!” I told Jason.

The school bell rang, and the classroom door opened. Students spilled out. Donkey attempted to hide himself in the middle of a big group. We quickly spotted him.

“There he is!” Jason shouted to me.

Taylor walked over to me and stood between myself and Donkey.

“What happened man? Did you guys get in trouble?” Taylor asked me.

“Move the fuck out of the way!” I shouted pushing Taylor over.

Donkey took the opportunity to make a mad dash down the hallway to get away from us. With all the students between us he got a good head start. He got close to the hallway corner. I knew if he turned the corner, he would be out of sight, and we might lose him.

Suddenly out of nowhere the classroom door ahead of Donkey springs open. The door catches Donkey right in the face, and he falls over backwards onto his ass on the ground.

Students flood outside the door and no one notices Donkey in a daze.

Jason and I catch up to Donkey. We grab the backpack off him in one aggressive yank. I unzip the bag and spot the weed inside. I take off my backpack and open it. I quickly shuffle the weed from Donkey’s bag to mine attempting to avoid any unwanted eyes.

I hand Donkey’s bag to Jason. Jason throws it at Donkey on the floor. The teacher from Donkey’s previous class notices Donkey on the floor and walks over asking if he is OK. Jason and I casually walk away down the hall.

The closest gates to leave campus were covered by extra security now. The only way out was to pretend we had P.E., walk towards the gym and then climb a fence near the football stadium.

We had to walk across the field and then up the bleachers to reach the fence. Sometimes the gate at the bleachers was open. Today it was not. There was no security or supervision on this side of the campus so no one would see you if you climbed the fence.

Jason made it up and over the fence in two seconds. He is pretty tall and could reach the top of the fence with his arms from the ground. I climbed to the top but on the way down my backpack got caught on the fence.

As I fumbled with the straps on my backpack I grabbed onto the fence with one hand and my feet barely fitting in the holes in the fence. I was in no rush, and I did not want to rip my bag.

“Dude there’s Donkey!” Jason informed me.

Donkey and two security guards were crossing the football field in our direction towards the bleachers.

“Fuck!” I said seeing Donkey for myself.

I tried to loosen my bag from the fence with no success.

Donkey and the security reached the bottom of the bleachers. I could make out a shit eating grin on his face. They started to climb the bleachers.

I pulled on my bag hard. The strap ripped and I got loose from the fence. I made it to the ground. Jason and I ran like hell.

We managed to make it back to the alley behind the hospital. We both felt paranoid and agreed we could not stay long in case Donkey had somehow told the security where we were.

“We can go to my house, but it is all the way in North Redondo. My mom will be at work until 7pm. My older sister might be there, but she doesn’t care if I ditch school. I have a scale at home, and we can split up the weed.” Jason told me.

I could not go back to school with all the weed, and I could not go home during school hours, or my parents might catch me ditching school. I agreed to follow him to his house. On the way there we took the long way to avoid major streets and police.

When we got to Jason’s house his mom was not home. Jason said he usually smoked outside in his backyard. Unfortunately, his neighbor who was also his landlord, was doing yard work in view of Jason’s smoking spot.

"I guess we could smoke in my garage." Jason told me.

Jason showed me his garage. It was dark and dusty with an old crappy couch surrounded by boxes and family junk inside.

“We could clean this up a bit, maybe find another couch or some chairs. Put a TV in the corner. This spot has a lot of potential...” I told Jason.

Chapter 7: Jason