"Of course, Jay."
The morning was slow, the only customer being old Mr. Timmons, who I'd already seen twice in my time at the pharmacy. He apparently came in twice a week like clockwork to refill his prescriptions, since he couldn't seem to coordinate his doctor's visits. After he left, I went over to the pharmacy window. "So why's he in here so often?"
Jay laughed. "Leon Timmons has been coming into this pharmacy since my father was running the place back in the seventies. He's come in more often over the past five years since his wife died. His children all moved out of T or C, last I heard the closest was his son who lives up in Denver. Other than Christmas and maybe two or three other times a year, he doesn't have a lot of visitors.
So I think he breaks up the boredom by going to the doctor. He's got double retirement, he did twenty years in the Navy before doing another twenty five for the State Wildlife Commission, so his insurance and pension cover it all. Actually half the time he's bringing in scrips for placebos. So other than a ten dollar co-pay at the docs, we don't charge him anything. The docs in town just send us a couple of bucks a month to cover the pills. I get them from a medical supply store that provides them for drug companies who are doing double blind studies."
"Is everyone in on the scam?"
"Sure are," Jay said. "Oh, we all make sure that nobody gets themselves in trouble. If Leon actually needs a real prescription done right, he pays the full amount, all that sort of stuff. But if he comes in for just a bottle of sugar pills, none of the paperwork ever gets put anywhere but the trashcan. The docs don't charge Medicare or the insurance companies, the ten bucks splits up half to them for their time and half to us for our time and the pills themselves, and Leon I think knows as well. I don't think any man could take placebos for so damn long without figuring out something about them. It makes him happy though, so I don't worry about it too much."
The shift continued, and I was enjoying it. Other than Mr. Timmons, things went reasonably slow, and Jay was relaxed enough with me now that he didn't mind if I drifted around the store. So instead of being bored off my backside with nothing to do, I cleaned. There was one of those janitor style dry mops in the back, the type that have those wide yarn-like heads that are meant to sweep up dust. Two passes with one of those on an aisle and you're pretty much cleared for the whole thing. It passed the time.
We were just before lunch and the end of my shift when the first police car went screaming by, lights and siren going. I watched it go by, turning toward Jay. "Didn't even know the town police had lights and sirens on their cars."
"Yeah, they're pretty laid back, letting the state guys handle most of the serious stuff. Really most of what they do is coordinate with the DEA and the state police along with the county sheriff," Jay said. When the second car went screaming through the nearby intersection with lights and siren, he set down the magazine he'd been reading and came out from behind his counter. "What the hell?"
We both looked out the window, so intent on what was happening up the street in the direction the cars had gone that we were nearly scared out of our shoes when a third car, this time a county sheriff, went by, an ambulance hot on its bumper.
“Let’s check the TV,” Jay said. The pharmacy did have a small television near the counter, but Jay's policy was not to let it be on unless it was one of those nights where the weather or conditions were keeping everyone away, but the store still had to be open.
We turned on the television, flipping to the local stations. T or C is somewhat caught in between two markets, so it got some of both. The cable company's CBS and Fox stations were from El Paso, while the NBC and ABC stations were from Albuquerque. We tried the NBC station first.
"Breaking news from Truth or Consequences," the anchor said, clearly flustered. "We are still gathering information, but initial reports are coming in of masked gunmen entering the high school. KOB is sending crews by helicopter to try and get reporters on scene. In the meantime . . .”
I stopped listening, my heart catching in my throat and everything going numb. "Cam . . .” I whispered, staggering backwards until my butt bumped into the counter. "Cam."
Jay put his hands on my shoulders, not knowing what else to do. “I’m sure he's fine. There’s no need to panic.”