Middle of the Night Break

Excerpt from The Dangerous Truth About Today’s Marijuana: Johnny Stack’s Life and Death Story (Freiling Press, July 10, 2021)

My cell phone rang at 3:00 a.m. It was Johnny. I got up to leave the bedroom so I wouldn’t wake John. I whispered loudly, “Johnny, what’s wrong?”

“Mom, I found out my girlfriend was cheating on me with someone who claims to be my best friend, so I banged on her door just now and screamed at her. I bugged her computer. My dorm room is bugged, too.”

“I’m so sorry that happened with your girlfriend, honey. What do you mean your dorm room is bugged?”

“Yes, and I’m going to need a new phone since the FBI is spying on me through my iPhone. They actually think I’m a terrorist.”

“What in the world are you talking about, Johnny?”

“I’ll tell you more about it tomorrow. I’ve got to get some sleep,” and he hung up. It was the middle of the night, and I thought my son had just literally lost his mind. I had no idea what to do.

A few hours later, my phone rang with a number I didn’t recognize. I answered, “Hello?” It was Johnny.

“Hi, Mom, it’s me. Okay, actually, it’s not true I bugged her computer. I was just saying that.”

“Johnny, where are you calling from? What number is this?”

“It’s a burner phone I bought at Target.”

“What? Wait, why would you lie to me about bugging your girlfriend’s computer?”

“Mom, you know why. Since my dorm room is bugged, they were listening to me, so I wanted to worry them with my power.”

“Who do you mean by ‘they’ are listening, Johnny?”

“Mom, you know.”

“Know what?”

Johnny hung up on me.

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