Response to Over the Counter

This story was about a man who worked at a pharmacy and had financial problems. His house was going to be seized from him and the stress was piling up as he worried about his young children. One day he was approached by an acquaintance who suggested that he sell drugs illegally. He goes to work and ends up stealing several pills with the intentions of selling them on the street for a good profit, even though he has never broken the law.  The story ends with him having the pills in his pocket silently doing the math, trying to figure out how much he could make.

I think this story does a really good job at creating a character that really does seem desperate and needs a way out. I think the story also had very effective tension in the scene where the main character stole the drugs.

The story was told in first person and I think that works well in this story but also third person would be interesting as well. Third person would be useful for getting in the heads of the other characters which would be interesting because they are all involved in the drug scheme in one way or another. I would like to see what the people think when they find out they were stolen from.

The story stats off strong with the realization that bills are piling up and something needs to happen soon or the narrator will lose his house and not be able to provide for his children.

The pacing is quick and there are few points in the story where I was bored. The story started building good tension once the guy who was “just around” started trying to convince the narrator to sell some drugs on the street.

The dialogue is real especially when the main characters friend tries to convince him to sell drugs.

The opening does a great job at setting up a story about a man on his last leg. The closing also is great because the man has the solution to his problem right in his pocket even though we don’t know if he will use it because it might create even worse problems.