Volume 4, Issue 9, September 2023
Sarah Turner
Pages 12-26
Midsummer’s Night
Would you tell the police if you knew a drug dealer? What if the drug dealer, isn’t really a drug deal, but a user who just caved in and sold a bit to a friend? What if the drug they sold killed the friend? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Niki goes punting (boating) with her friends at her Ivy League school. The topic of conversation is a fellow student who jumped to her death while on drugs. It’s a terrible tragedy that makes national news and the school and police are on the lookout for who sold her the drugs. As it gets dark, Niki, and her friend Sunetra leave the group to return the rental boat. While on their boat ride Sunetra confesses, she knows the student who sold the girl the drugs. He’s not a drug dealer, but simply a person who had drugs. The girl begged him to sell her some and he finally relented. To confuse matters, the drug dealing student is studying law and wants to be a human rights attorney. Now Niki has a shared secret, and suspects Sunetra only told her so that someone would tell the police, but she wouldn’t have to personally do it.