Light It Up

Walking across the stage at my college graduation was one of the most exhilarating feelings I have ever had. I knew exactly what I was going to use my degree for and no one could convince me otherwise. I had made sure to take out loans for well over what I needed to put myself through college so when I was finished I wouldn’t have to worry about how I was going to fund my operation.

Being a Botanist may not seem thrilling to most people, but most people don’t use the degree to start up an extremely successful grow-op. And no, I don’t mean food to help the homeless, although I do fund one of those as well. I am talking about a state-of-the-art marijuana grow-op. Growing up in the poor area of the city I knew that I never wanted to live like that. Seeing how so many of the people I grew up with struggle financially, in and out of jail, or die I knew I had to do something to help the community that gave me so much when they couldn’t even give it to themselves.

That brings us to the present. I am about to open my second warehouse to trim and process since the first could only house the plants now. To say business was booming was and understatement. I had a staff of 60 people and made more than enough to fund other projects when they cause spoke to me. Feeling like I was making a difference in people’s lives was enough for me to keep striving to do better.

There was a knock on my office door and when it opened one of my supply managers popped his head in.

“Hey Lil, got a second to talk?” He asked.

“For you James, I have all the time in the world.” I tell him smiling. He had been with me since the very beginning. We went to high school together and even dated for a little while when I was in college. He was setting up the warehouse with all the lighting and ventilation that we were going to need.

“Listen I know you don’t like hearing about problems only about the solution to the problem, but I am stumped.” He starts but I cut him off.

“James what’s going on. You are worrying me.” I say furrowing my brows.

“There has been a lot of talk about you going around town lately. Who you are, where your money is coming from, that kind of stuff.” He explains. My stomach drops. This business was completely illegal, and I knew the risks that came with it. “There is one group that has been causing a lot of the noise. It’s the EST boys. I know you try to stay out of the public eye, but I don’t know how much longer you can stay anonymous. I think you need to have a chat with them.”

I purse my lips in though, I didn’t want this getting out of hand and it end up exposing the operation to the cops, but I also didn’t want to negotiate with people that had no business putting my name in their mouth. I sighed knowing that I didn’t have a choice. James would only come to me with this if it was a serious issue; he would handle it himself if he could.

Even In a large city like Cleveland when a new company pops up and starts throwing money around the draw’s attention. Thankfully until now the cover business of a software company had kept the truth under wraps. I knew that it would be hard work to keep everything hush hush. I helped to have someone in the district attorney’s office on my side. You could call her my silent business partner; so silent that not even James knew about it.

“Thank you, James. I will take care of this. Spread the word to some of the dealers that I want to meet the head of the EST Boys tomorrow night at 9PM at O’riellys.” I stood and walked around my desk to him placing a kiss on his cheek in thanks and walked out the door he had come in not too long ago.