Cravings (standard:Creative non-fiction, 870 words)
Author: jenne64	Added: Mar 22 2006	Views/Reads: 3617/2	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
If you'd waited 20 years to feel something, to hold it, covert it and adore it, would you want to lose it?

Cravings 

The amber liquid was being poured, no more would I be denied the
sensations I had craved for these past twenty years. Not a sound could 
I hear, my entire attention focused on the sight before me, the nectar 
of life that for so long had not existed in anyone's life.  I licked my 
lips at the very sight, almost able to taste the stuff as I watched it 
fall onto the sides of the goblet, clinging for just a second to the 
side before slipping downward to the small pool that had already 
gathered in the bottom. 

I waited until every single precious drop had settled into the bottom of
the goblet before picking it up. Raising the goblet to my nose, I took 
it in, my nasal passages reveling in the woody, earth scent. A scent I 
had almost forgotten and one I was sure I would never experience again. 
 I inhaled again, savoring the moment, enjoying each separate smell as 
it hit my nasal passages, reveling in the exhilaration that it produced 
within my body, my hear beating faster, producing a bead of sweat on my 
brow, and making my hands shake from the sheer excitement. Or was the 
shaking caused by nerves? Just being here with this wonderful substance 
could see me thrown in jail and there would be no key in sight. 

At this moment in time it didn't matter though.  I had everything I had
worked so hard to achieve right in front of me. For twenty years I had 
sweated, toiled and broken my back for this one moment in time. No one 
was going to deny me my moment of crowning glory, no one!  The sweet 
aroma brought back childhood memories, the farm, the tractor that 
purred as Dad and I had worked the land, the sweet smell invoked 
flashbacks to a glorious time, a time before my actions today were made 
illegal, the good old days, when boys could be boys and tinker with an 
engine all day long. I longer to give those same experiences to my own 
kids, they were the main reason I was here or so I had told myself, but 
just standing here, looking at the ambrosia I realized this was as much 
for me as it was for them. 

My thoughts were interrupted by a gruff voice. “Hey, we ‘gonna do this
deal or not?” came the question. “I don't wanna be here all night yeah 
knows.” 

Looking up I see the burly man that had fulfilled my dream. “Oh yeah
sure, the price we agreed right?” 

”Yeah I just wanna get out of here man.” came the hurried reply, the
nervousness in his voice almost palpable. 

It wasn't long before the money had changed hands. My life's work walked
out the door with that guy, but I didn't care as I my attention 
returned once more to my purchase. I picked up the can that he had left 
and took off the lid, intending to pour the goblets contents back into 
it. I wasn't about to waste a precious drop; not one.  Once more I 
drank in the heady aroma. I'd done it, I had it and now my children 
could experience the simple thrill too. 

Placing the lid back on the can I made my way to the door. A feeling of
euphoria swept over me as I picked up the goblet on the way, not a drop 
was going to escape me tonight. No sooner had I stepped outside though 
it happened, everything came crashing down around my ears. 

”Stay where you are!” I looked around trying to locate the voice in the
darkness; instead I saw gun barrels, lots of gun barrels and all 
pointing at me. “Put the can down slowly and lay on the ground!”, the 
nameless voice directed. 

Slowly, reluctantly, I placed the can carefully on the floor in front of
me. A feeling of regret filled me as I let go of the can. Everything I 
had ever hoped for was in that can and now it was slipping away from me 
and there was nothing I could do. 

Out of the darkness emerged a figure, a lone figure, dressed in
government uniform. He kicked the can away from my feet, for a second I 
wanted to kick his feet from under him as I watched my dream slide from 
my grasp but I knew it was pointless. Had I really been so stupid to 
think that the government wouldn't discover me, they knew everything as 
I was soon to discover. 

My trial was as short and sweet as my taste had been that night. I
pleased guilty, I'd been caught red handed after all, fair and square. 
Turns out that the Government had been wire tapping my phone for 
months, I never stood a chance of living my dream but I still had that 
one moment that night had given me, I could still smell that sweet 
smell even now, the smell most people would be denied all their lives. 
That delicious substance that could fuel the world, solve many of its 
problems but had been denied to the average citizen for so long: oil.


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