Authors: David Matthew Klein
Stash (40 page)
She reached down to pick it up. It was part of a joint, the remaining half from the day she’d gotten high in Thacher Park after buying the bag from Jude. That day. She remembered she had wrapped the half-smoked joint in the tissue and stowed it in here and had worn the string clutch like a long necklace, which never left her until Brian held it for her when they left the hospital, she in the police cruiser. No one had looked in it. Gwen had forgotten anything was there.
“What is it?” Marlene asked.
Gwen pulled her pants and stood up. “Part of a joint.”
“Oh my God, do you have any matches?”
Without thinking, Gwen rummaged the inside pocket and found the pack of matches she’d picked up on her way out of Gull. She paused. Wait. How could she, after what happened? But she didn’t have to say no, not always, not forever. It was a beautiful day after a rough stretch. Brian was driving—so she wouldn’t get in that situation again. And she’d tell him, which is what he asked her to do. She’d be more careful.
They were alone. The hay wagon was back at the yard. Nothing but crisp corn stalks and trampled vines and a background of autumn trees. A breeze blew stray clouds across the sky.
Marlene held the joint; Gwen struck the match. They passed it a couple of times, glancing back toward the group of people near the snack stand and greenhouse, like two teenagers sneaking behind school.
“Tastes sweet,” Gwen said.
“It’s been too long,” added Marlene.
Then the shed door slid open on steel rollers. Eric stepped out holding a bucket of tools. He sniffed the air and found them.
Marlene dropped the joint, which they’d burned down to almost a roach. Gwen mashed it with her shoe.
“Make sure that’s out,” Eric said. “It’s been pretty dry.”
“Sorry,” Gwen said. “We didn’t think anyone was around.”
Busted again. The pot was just kicking in, with it the embarrassment.
Eric grinned, not as if he’d caught them, but as if he’d been the one caught. He said, “You know, just between us, this season I set aside a hidden patch and cultivated a few plants—just to see how well it could grow. I got a lot more than I expected. More than I can use.”
“You’re a natural farmer,” Marlene said.
“Oh, yeah—it’s all organic.” He set down the tool bucket. “But I can’t exactly offer it as part of the produce share.”
“No, you can’t do that,” Gwen agreed. “I can tell you right now, you don’t want the wrong people knowing.”
“Exactly.”
“Maybe you can start a new kind of share,” Marlene suggested. “Only for a few people.”
Eric nodded. “That’s the idea I had in mind. But how do I let the right people know about it, without letting the wrong people find out?”
“It’s hard,” Gwen admitted. “I wouldn’t know where to begin.”
“Well, for starters, you can count me in,” Marlene said.
They both turned to Gwen. She smiled and shrugged and looked back to the farmyard. She saw Brian and the kids at a picnic table, one large and two small figures hunched over a white paper bag. She’d better hurry back if she wanted a doughnut.
READING GROUP GUIDE
Warning: Some plot points are revealed in the questions below.
Gwen believes that in Morrissey, “You have your life and you’re happy with it, as long as you do your best, look your best, perform your best.” What type of internal or external pressures make Gwen feel this way? What do Gwen’s comments indicate about her seemingly ideal suburban life?
Gwen feels awful about the death of James Anderson and keeps reliving the accident in her mind. What is her level of responsibility for what happened? Is she unfairly targeted by the police when threatened with charges of vehicular manslaughter?
The first time Gwen goes to tell Jude about the police, she changes her mind and leaves, but the next time she sees Jude, she tells him. Why does Gwen warn Jude that she’d given his name to the police? What are the consequences of her telling Jude?
Gwen, Brian, and Jude all take significant risks. What are those risks? Why do they take them?
It is noted that “[P]harmaceutical promotion had more gray than a stormy sky.” Consider the moral dilemma that Brian faces while “promoting” Zuprone’s off-label use for weight loss. Does he feel responsible for the patients who developed anorexia? Should he?
Compare Gwen’s flirtations with Jude to Brian’s with Teresa. Do either of these flirtations pose a real threat to Brian and Gwen’s marriage? Do you agree with Gwen’s decision not to tell Brian about her kiss with Jude? Does a marriage need to have full, complete honesty in order for each spouse to maintain trust in the other?
What are Jude’s feelings about Dana going off to college? Does he always have his daughter’s best interests in mind? How would you describe their father/daughter relationship?
Jude is portrayed as having been very careful throughout his dealing career. What blinds him to the risks of the deal he is working on now?
What is the basis for attraction between Aaron and Dana? Is there anything positive about their brief time together?
Is Brian in a difficult situation at work because of his own decisions, or is he simply caught in the wrong place at the wrong time? Did he act in the best interest of his company, himself, or the consumers taking Zuprone?
Toward the end of the novel, Gwen reflects: “It didn’t seem stupid at the time, what she’d done; it didn’t seem lethal. Her behavior still fit within her moral compass: be responsible for
your actions, be fair to everyone, keep your word.” Throughout the novel, does she stay true to her moral compass? Are there any times she goes off course?What decision does Gwen make at the end of the novel? Does Gwen undergo any significant change?
What does the novel have to say about drug use? Does society view drug use differently, depending on whether the drug is legal or illegal? Do you think the author would support legalizing marijuana? Why or why not?
The novel is told from the viewpoints of different characters. What effect does this have on the building of suspense? On the pace of the novel?
“Stash” refers to something put away or hidden, often for future use. Could the title of the novel refer to anything other than drugs?
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2010 by David Klein
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Broadway Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
BROADWAY BOOKS
and the Broadway Books colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to Cotillion Music, Inc., for permission to use an excerpt from “I Got You Babe,” words and music by Sonny Bono, copyright © 1965 (renewed) Cotillion Music, Inc., and Chris-Marc Music. All rights administered by Cotillion Music, Inc. All rights reserved.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Klein, David (David Matthew)
Stash / by David Klein.
p. cm.
1. Rich people—Fiction. 2. Suburban life—Fiction. 3. Drug abuse—Fiction. 4. Interpersonal relations—Fiction. 5. Psychological fiction. I. Title.
PS3611.L4435S73 2010
813′.6—dc22
2009052594
eISBN: 978-0-307-71682-8
v3.0