25. Patriot Acts – Lockdown

 Jeremy Ruick carried a shotgun, a hunting rifle and two pistols.  The first pistol was his father’s, a former police officer.  The shotgun and the rifle were his as well, as he had been an avid hunter.  The other pistol belonged to his next-door neighbour, a police detective. 

Jeremy had long suspected the detective was investigating him.  Every evening, if Jeremy was outside, the detective asked him “What did you do today, Jeremy?”  The constant interrogation had been driving him crazy.  A sharp kitchen knife had ended the questions yesterday, and now the detective was in the basement.  Jeremy had moved on to the local pharmacy that filled his prescriptions. After all, this is where the mind-control drugs came from.

Jeremy locked the two big front doors together using a chain and a padlock.  Then he threw off the big coat he had bought earlier that week for concealing his weapons.  He fired the shotgun into the air, leaving the rifle slung across his back.  The customers in the store collectively screamed, ducking for cover in the aisles.

“Everyone on the floor!”  Jeremy shouted, not noticing everyone already was.  That was how they did it in movies.

He walked up to the pharmacist’s counter at the back.  The man in the white coat was huddled on the floor, covering his head.

            “Tell me why you did it.”  Jeremy said.

            “Did what?” The man said from his defensive position.

            “DON’T PLAY DUMB!  Get up, on your feet!”

            The pharmacist cringed and did what he was told.  He trembled as Jeremy pointed the shotgun at him.

            “Why did you give me the drugs?”  Jeremy shook the bottle at him. 

            The pharmacist seemed perplexed.  “That’s my job.”

            “That’s what I thought you’d say.”  Jeremy sighed.

            BANG!