Chapter 4

The $40 in my gas tank didn't last too long. My problem, if you call it a problem, is that I don't have a hustle. I'm terrified of pulling crimes because I get caught for the dumb things I don't plan, so I figure that I will definitely get caught for the things that I do plan.

I needed gas though, so I turned to an old, but tried and true scam that has worked every time for me, one that I had never been caught doing. I pulled up to Wal-Mart, walked into the store, went and grabbed an expensive (non-technology based) item, kept it out in the open so as not to look suspicious, walked through the check-outs directly to the customer service desk, and promptly returned said item for a gift card. The item in question was a $140 tent.

Wal-Mart caught on to this long ago, but doesn't know how to stop it from happening. Instead, they put limits on how often you can return things without receipts (3 in 6 months) and even more recently, started limiting the return amount to about $50 max, depending on the situation.

Also, if you get a gift card and the Wal-Mart has a Murphy U.S.A. gas station nearby, you can use the gift card to buy gas.

This was what I was looking for, but unfortunately, there were no WaI-Mart's nearby with gas stations, so I did the tent thing and tried something new. After receiving the gift card, I went back to the check-out, bought a prepaid MasterCard, tried to load $100 on to it and look! It worked! I didn't need the Murphy U.S.A. anymore! I could use any place that took MasterCard and that was everywhere!

I went across the street and tried to use it, but it didn't work. I called the prepaid company and they said it could take up to 6 hours. It was time to wait patiently. After about 4 hours, my money showed up, I gassed up, went back and bought cigarettes and some food at Wal-Mart, jumped back on the freeway and continued my journey. I was stoked because I knew that I could do this a couple more times and get plenty of money for the trip. I hadn't done it in years.

As I got into North Carolina later the next day, I needed money again. I was on my way to do the thing again, but while on the freeway, there was a red Mustang, brand new, that wanted to race me or something ignorant like that. I wasn't looking for all that; I just wanted to get off the freeway. I was driving behind him, and he brake checked me. I was too close and had to swerve. When I did this, the tires locked on me and I spun out right in the middle of the freeway, and the day, going at least 60mph. I somehow landed in the ditch backward, but without any damage to myself, any other vehicles or my vehicle, minus a bent muffler that dug into the hill rising out of the ditch into a fronting a field or swamp or something. It was amazing. The red Mustang kept on going.

I got off the freeway and pulled into a gas station to assess the damage, tie the muffler up, put some more gas in and get some food before taking off, back on my mission. I was headed east and was only about 50 miles from the southbound interchange that would take me past Charlotte into South Carolina. When I got to Charlotte, I went to a hospital and told them that I had just got into an accident and that I needed to be seen. I wanted to get high and I knew that they would give me some pain pills, which they did, only taking about 2 hours to do such. I got a script of 12 5mg Vicodin.

I then went to Wal-Mart, did the tent thing again and got away with it. This time though, they hesitated. They told me that I had just done this the day before in Nashville. I said I did, that I had 2 tents from my family outing, and that I didn't think to return both yesterday. They finally gave me the card.

After that, I took all 12 pills and regretted that almost immediately. I wanted to sleep,