我有一大帮朋友，我们从小一起长大，关系十分亲密——直到他们变得与大麻烟形影不离。
在此之前，我们总待在一起。我们会去看电影，参加聚会，逛公园。如果实在没有什么地方可去，我们就会窝在其中一个朋友的家里打电子游戏。
我们虽然是很亲密的朋友，但还是会发生一些小争执。不过当我们争执起来时，戴夫会从中调解，设法让我们停止争吵。他就像是我们这群人的官方调解人。戴夫是我们当中最有幽默感的人，他总是在讲笑话。这也是跟他们待在一起最棒的事情之一——你总能开怀大笑。
可是在我这群朋友差不多14岁时，有一天，他们计划凑钱去买些大麻烟。
我不想这么做，因为我不想跟大麻烟扯上任何关系。我以为如果我一分钱也不出，他们会说我不能抽烟，我就可以装出一副失望的样子。可是，他们凑够了钱来买大麻烟，还说不管怎么样我也可以一起抽。
他们准备抽的时候，我们正在公园里。其中一个人把那支大麻烟点燃，抽了一口，然后把它传给了其他人。烟在我们当中传来传去，我当时心想：“我应该怎么做呢？我应该接受还是拒绝？”我坐在我们那排的最后面，心里希望那支烟传到我这儿时就已经被他们抽完了，或者有人会不抽，这样我就不是唯一一个不肯抽的人了。结果，这两种情形都没有出现，我发现有人把那支烟递向了我。
“我一点都不想抽。”
“抽一口吧，小子。那感觉太棒了。”
“你要是不抽的话，你就是个怪胎。”
“你总不能一辈子都当你妈的乖宝宝吧。”
我被深深地蛊惑了，实际上，我已经把烟接过来拿在手里了。不过我知道这是一个抉择，要么就抽上一口维持跟他们的友谊，要么就一口不抽保持身体健康。我恢复了理智，只是把烟传给了别人。
“你真是个怪胎。”
“跟你玩真没劲，妈妈的乖宝宝。”
他们抽完大麻烟以后，就开始表现得像傻瓜一样。你打我一下，我打你一下，还讲些愚蠢的笑话。看到他们那副样子，我庆幸自己没抽。第二天，他们都在谈论自己早上有多么难受。你以为那种糟糕的感觉会使他们醒悟过来，不再抽大麻烟，可是，他们却开始计划买更多的大麻烟。
现在，我那帮朋友已经抽了一年的大麻烟了，抽烟已经使他们发生了变化。他们老是看起来像僵尸一样，眼睛总是红红的，半睁着。他们脾气暴躁，总是一副随时要准备打架的样子。尤其是戴夫，他现在是他们所有人当中脾气最差的一个。
几个星期前，我们在公园里打篮球。球本来在戴夫手中，我试图从他那儿抢球时，一不小心打到了他的手。他就变得特别不高兴，冲着我大吼大叫起来。
“见鬼，你为什么要对我犯规啊？”
“那只是个意外，我不明白你到底在发什么火，”我对他说，“这只是比赛的一部分。你要是受不了，就别玩。”
戴夫试图挥拳打我，不过没打中。紧接着，其他人拉住了他，让他冷静下来。戴夫的这一举动让我感到意外，因为他在开始抽大麻烟之前，总是扮演着调解人的角色。
我和我的那帮朋友以前常常会和其他街区的伙伴们打篮球比赛，而我一直都会参加。我有一阵子没听说比赛的事了，不过我也不担心，因为我觉得他们打比赛的时候会告诉我。直到有一天，我给戴夫打了个电话，想看看他在做什么。电话是他妈妈接的。
“你好，我是贾梅尔。戴夫在吗？”
“他不在，贾梅尔。他大概半个小时前就去公园了。”
我来到公园，发现他们刚刚和另外一个队打完比赛。我十分沮丧，因为一直以来我都参加的，可现在呢，就因为我不抽烟，他们连叫都不叫我了。
我和朋友们不再像原来那样亲密，这让我产生了这样的想法：“也许我应该抽那么一次。就算对自己不好，又能坏到哪儿去？”可接着我想起他们不久前在公园里的样子，便把这种想法抛在脑后了。
你也许纳闷为什么我还要继续努力保持跟他们之间的亲密关系，而不去结交一些新的朋友。但放弃跟你一起长大的朋友并不是一件十分容易的事情。我一直尽力劝他们戒烟，可他们却只是一笑置之，好像我很愚蠢似的，还告诉我不要多管闲事。
我希望我们的友谊能够回到从前，可是如果他们继续抽大麻烟的话，我觉得自己的这个愿望是不可能实现的。能否做朋友竟取决于一支小小的大麻烟，真是令人难以置信。
（翻译/小越）
（英文原文作者：by Jamel Salter）
I had a lot of friends whom I grew up with， and growing up together made us very close—until my friends got too close to weed.
Before that happened， we were always together. We'd go to movies， parties， the park； and if we didn't have anywhere to go， we'd stay at one of our houses and play video games.
Even though we were close friends， we still had our little arguments. But when we argued， Dave would get in the middle and try to stop it. He was like the official peacemaker of the group. Dave had the best sense of humor out of all of us. He was always telling jokes. That was one of the best things about hanging with them： you always got a good laugh.
But one day， when my friends were about 14， they made plans to put money in to buy some weed.
I didn't want to do it because I didn't want to have anything to do with weed. I thought if I didn't put any money in they would say I couldn't smoke， and I would pretend I was disappointed. But they got enough money to go through with it and said I could smoke anyway.
We were at the park when they started smoking it. One person lit the blunt2）， took a puff， and passed it around. As it was going around I was thinking to myself， "What should I do？ Should I say yes or no？" I sat at the end of the line， hoping that they would finish the blunt before it got to me or that someone else would turn it down so that I wouldn't be the only one who refused. Neither happened， and I found myself being handed the blunt.
"I don't want any."
"Take a puff， son. It's mad nice3）."
"If you don't smoke， you're a herb4）."
"You can't be a mama's boy the rest of your life."
I got so tempted5） that I actually took it in my hand. But I knew that it was a choice between smoking and keeping their friendship or not smoking and keeping my health. I came to my senses6） and just passed it on.
"You really are a herb."
"You can't hang7）， mama's boy."
When they finished smoking， they started acting like fools. They were hitting each other and telling stupid jokes. Seeing the way they acted made me glad that I didn't smoke. The next day everyone was talking about how bad they felt in the morning. You would think that would make them come to their senses and stop， but they just started making plans to get more.
My friends have been smoking for a year now， and it has changed them. They always look like zombies. Their eyes are always red and halfway closed. They have bad tempers and they are always ready to fight. Especially Dave： now he has the worst temper of them all.
A few weeks ago we were at the park playing basketball. Dave had the ball and when I tried to steal it from him I slapped his hand by accident. He got highly uPSEt and started yelling at me.
"Why the hell are you fouling8） me？"
"It was an accident， and I don't know what you're getting mad about anyway，" I told him. "It's all a part of the game. If you can't deal with it， don't play."
Dave tried to punch me but missed， then the others held him back and calmed him down. This surprised me because Dave was always the peacemaker before he began to smoke weed.
My friends and I always used to play against other blocks in basketball， and I always started9）. I didn't hear about a game for a while but I didn't worry， because I figured my friends would tell me when they were playing. Then one day I called Dave to see what he was doing and his mother picked up.
"Hello， this is Jamel. Is Dave there？"
"No， he isn't， Jamel. He went to the park about a half-hour ago."
When I got to the park I saw them just finishing playing another team. I got upset because I always started， and now， because I don't smoke weed， they didn't even bother to call me.
Not being close to my friends like I used to be makes me think to myself， "Maybe I should smoke it just one time. What's the worst thing that could happen to me？" Then I remember the way that they were acting the other day in the park and I just forget about it.
You might be wondering why I don't stop trying to stay close to them and make new friends， but it isn't so easy to lose friends you've grown up with. I keep trying to talk them out of smoking， but they just laugh as if I'm stupid and tell me to mind my own business.
I wish our friendship could go back to the way it was before， but I don't think there's any chance of that happening while they keep smoking. It's hard to believe that the difference between friends or no friends comes from one little blunt.
1. weed [wi?d] n. <俚>
大麻烟。大麻烟是一种作用于神经系统的毒品，长期吸食可导致性格淡漠、行为呆滞、记忆力下降等。
2. blunt [bl?nt] n. <美俚>大麻烟卷
3. mad nice： 非常棒的
4. herb [h??b] n. 呆子；傻瓜
5. tempt [tempt] vt. 引诱，诱惑
6. come to one's sense： 恢复理性，醒悟过来
7. hang： 此处省略了out。Hang out意思是“和特定的人一起打发时间”。
8. foul [fa?l] vt. （比赛中）对……犯规
9. start [stɑ?t] vi. 参赛，上场
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