The great quest toward evening

After eating an overabundance of food at the barbecue, John and I came to a decision
that would involve doing mescaline tonight and without further hesitation, we hurried
from the backyard to the car. It felt like the Gods were smiling down upon us as I
slammed the door of that '68 Toyota Corolla deluxe coupe! From time to time his
mom lets him to use it. John would have taken his car had it not broke down again.
First it was the starter, then it was the alternator. Now it's the catalyst converter!
I turned up the radio as a song began to play. It was "Something in the air" by
Thunderclap Newman, and at that moment, it was the best song in the entire world! 



As the wind blasted through our hair, it formed a vortex in the car ruffling up scraps
of paper, and sucking out very thin pieces of clear plastic cellophane which could be
found around cigarette packs. We ended up in Great Kills, but they had only weed.
In Bay Terrace, they were all high and had nothing to sell, so we drove to Oakwood
train station where they told us to come back tomorrow. We then headed into
New Dorp, only to find it was a ghost town. By this time, The Merry-Go-Round
came on and were singing their hit song, "Live."

After the song ended, John turned off the engine and sparked up a bone where we sat
parked by the St. George Malankara orthodox church of India. Looking out the open
window, I was but six arm lengths from the steps. Flashbacks in my mind from earlier
days rippled the lake of calmness in my brain. I made the sign of the cross before taking
in a nice slow hit of mother nature. In a disturbing kind of way, I felt as if the herb was
purifying my soul as it expanded my consciousness, thus bringing me that much closer
to the higher power. I then thought, if I died now would I go to the Indian section?

The thought made me smile, and it wasn't long before I fell into a dream.
A pendulum ride that would take me back nearly two years.

It was somewhere in the fall of 1980. A conflict between John and Paul
that would almost end a lifelong friendship. I will admit I don't remember
the day, but to the best of my knowledge this is what happened. John and I
were hanging out in his room, listening to WPLJ with Tony Pigg, and getting
high to Riders on the storm by Jim Morrison. With us that day were Pete,
his brother Tom, and Richie Cakes. We had just finished passing around an
emerald green bong that was partially filled with pink lemonade, and everyone
was mellow. As Kansas came on to sing Dust in the wind, I looked around
to see the room beclouded in a resiny haze! Ten minutes after we finished
smoking the doorbell rings and John goes downstairs to see who it might be.
Paul enters and so we all come down. He has become furious with John,
because John smoked all the weed without him, rather than waiting until four
as agreed upon. "Getting a little fat there flabby, aint'cha? Look at him, in
a few more years he'll be the size of Mount Rushmore!" Paul then began
lumbering around the room like a comical version of The Thing, while grunting
heavily under his breath. The entire house was now engulfed in laughter!

"I smoked, now I gotta eat the refrigerator and the stove! You really are
a piece-a-work, let me tell ya. You say one thing and then you do another!"
As Paul began patting John on the shoulder, his facial expressions made
him look like Jimmy Boils from across the street!

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Jimmy looked like one of them trees I'd seen near my school. The one
covered in fissures and knots, which made him look so obscene that
many young children have darted from him in inexplicable terror!



"You had to smoke it all without me, didn't 'cha Johnny. Couldn't wait that extra second
for me now, could 'ya Johnny? Ahhh, but your livin' well now, aint' ya Johnny!" Paul
was now cocking his head, bearing both his upper and lower teeth, as if he were wincing!
This action caused him to squint his eyes like the boil man!  We were laughing so hard I
was in stitches, rolling on the floor!!! Then Paul started laughing even louder than us!
Stomping his feet on the carpet without provocation, rattling the curio cabinet!

Immediately, John bolts up the stairs saying he has something to show me. After five
minutes, he still hasn't come down. "What are ya doin' up there Morris, eatin' all them
vittles?" Roaring laughter could be heard coming from that house more than a mile away!
Eventually, John comes down from the attic. With him, he is carrying a rather large picture
completely covered in dust! "What have we here?" asks Paul rather inquisitively. "Is it a
Picture perhaps?" Sit down, you don't need to see this. "Sit down, what am I a dog? Sit
down, now roll over! What are you a jerk off?" Just be good and sit down. "Don't talk to me
like I'm a three year old!" Look Paul, you don't-need to-see the picture! "Bullshit, I don't need
to see it. Show me or I'll pull it out of your hands and smash it against the wall!" All right, you
wanna see it? Just then John proceeded to blow a century's worth of dust straight up Paul's
nostrils, and he went ballistic!



Vehemently throwing his arms about his face like he was standing in a giant beehive!
He then threw two punches at John's upper arm! "You're a fucking asshole! You know
I'm allergic to dust!!! We're not done, pal!" Paul then storms out of the house and
John smiles. Who's laughing now? asks John calmly as he slams the front door hard!
He thinks he's a clown! He comes over, he disrespects me in my own house!

After a few weeks, John and Paul were hanging out again like nothing ever happened.
I can recall it being a Thursday when I rang Pete's doorbell. What's going on, Pete?
"Not too much. Paul and John are at it again." What happened this time? "I think it'd be
better if John told you himself." I could see Pete trying not to laugh, and so I went over
to John's house to find out what in hell was going on! What's up, Johnny? I yelled happily,
through the open screen in the old living room window. "Come in! Paul is fucking dead!
Take a look at this. I'm showing everyone what a mental case this guy is!" As he opened
the cabinet door, I could not stop laughing! Paul must have been really mad to do
something like that, I said. "Him mad? My mother came in last night and saw it sitting
on top of the television!" "Him - Mad?" Was she upset? "She was screaming!!!
My sister was with her and her jaw dropped! Like a stupid jerk she says, look ma,
you can even see all the little lines in it!!!"

                                                                              Pg 108
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"Don't laugh because when I catch him, I'm gonna punch his damn head off!
That fucking piece of shit! Do me a favor and don't mention his name in my
presence again. I feel like going outside right now and throwing my spare tire
through his front window! That's how mad I am with this fuck." The following
week, I was going over to call for Paul, and I hear them yelling at one another.
Paul was upstairs yelling out his bedroom window, while John was downstairs
screaming obscenities up to him from the driveway. "I'll catch you, don't worry
about it!" Oh, I'm not worried about it pal! I'll lay you out with one shot. "Let's go
then! Put your money where your mouth is asshole!" Paul then started to sing
at the top of his lungs! "Mu-sic, all I hear is mu---sic!!!" Which as any early
Genesis fan knows is in the wilderness. That really burned John's ass!
I turned around and walked back home.

What Paul did to infuriate John is almost too funny for words! John had this
strange looking curio called a reproboard that is comprised of pins. You can
push your hand or your face into it and the impression will remain. An instant
sculpture of portable art that could be easily reset by simply turning the pin
press in the opposite direction!



Paul told me that when John went up to take a shower, he used the downstairs
bathroom to leave a 3-D impression of his hardened penis in the reproboard
for John's sister to see! It had to be one of the most hysterical things I had ever
seen before in my life!!! Because of this practical joke, I had to hang out with them
separately as the two refused to speak to one another for almost five whole months!

As "The Syndicate of Sound" came on to sing Little girl, we drove to the back roads
of Midland beach, till we saw some activity. John gave me his six dollars, and so I left
the vehicle to make the transaction. I presented myself to the apothecary in a fleeting
fashion, as would a first time buyer, or an undercover police officer looking to make
a bust. I asked the dealer (an English chap) for my drug of choice, and he said very
politely, "sure thing, that'll be twelve dollars." *Dough-lers, I like that!* The pecuniary
amount was handed over in exchange for 4 spherical dots of orange sunshine mesc.
In that minuscule vial, I saw what might have been close to a thousand microdots
if not more! Wow I thought, that's enough to take a whole generation to the moon!

Years later, I did some research into the matter and found that true mescaline is found
in the button of the peyote cactus which when harvested, is left to dry in the desert sun.



The standard dose for oral mescaline falls within ranges of 200 to 500 milligrams per dose.
An infinitesimal dose for a barely noticeable reaction can be felt at 100 milligrams and for
that amount alone to be effective one would need to enlarge the microdot by at least 10!!!

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I'm not saying take 10, I'm saying bi-----g-----g-----er! Acid (or) LSD, on the other hand, is measured
solely in micrograms. (one millionth of a gram) and is the most powerful hallucinogenic substance known to man.
Even the smallest speck, barely visible to the naked eye would be enough to evoke a noticeable response in a
human being, and this amount would be exactly 25 micrograms! If one drop of pure LSD is enough to get 500
people high, and one quart sized bottle enough to inoculate the entire island of Manhattan, then I assume it was
not mescaline at all that we were getting. Of course, I didn't know it then! In truth, LSD is no more dangerous
than a loaded gun. If no one picks it up and plays with it, then no one will get hurt.

As John drove back to Eltingville, I was inspired by thoughts and ideas of how
grand the night would become! Or at least I was hoping it wouldn't turn out to
be a real bummer. I was about to conquer the world and I didn't even know it.
At approximately 8:30 pm, John and I ingested the microdots. Two for him and
two for me. That medicine would not only open our minds, but it would change
my entire concept of life, death and my understanding of the world around me.

Without ever leaving, we would find ourselves on another planet.
A place very similar to our own; with a few exceptions that is. . .



I will admit, I was quite nervous about taking them. Thinking the whole time they
may be laced with some very bad LSD. With so many stories circulating, no one
can say for sure that they weren't! John reassured me by saying words I wanted
to hear. "If it was acid, it couldn't be sold as mescaline, period. Everyone has to
adhere to a code of ethics, and these guys are no different. These guys especially!
Just think of what I'm saying. Someone goes out to buy cocaine and comes back
with speed, what do you think is gonna happen? The dealer is either going to lose
all his clientele, or someone is going to shoot him!" John was the kind of guy, who
could sell you a penny for a nickel. Indeed, he was an incredible bullshit artist!
The best! I guess he was right in a way, and the more I thought about it,
the better I began to feel until it was out of my head completely.

Ten minutes went by when I began to notice a change. Car headlights had more
of a shine to them than they normally would if I were straight, and lampposts had
a calming glow. Pete comes over and appears to be in a jovial mood. Then John
spills the beans about the mescaline, and he quickly becomes enraged! "Charles
was gonna lay out the money for you, but I told him not to." You said what?
"The last time I bought the hits, you didn't want them!" You knew I had to go
away that weekend! I specifically told you I couldn't hang out, but you tried
to lure me back in, and it didn't work so don't start that shit with me now!
And Charles listens like a mindless puppet!



While Pete spoke to John, his eyes were filled with venom and upon me. Like the
bullies in the school cafeteria who crack their knuckles and use their scare tactics
to employ fear. I don't care how strong you are, no one would deliberately pick a
fight with peter. He was of muscular build, and even though he wasn't much taller
than me, it wouldn't surprise me to see him lift up the corner of someone's house in
a heated rage! Intimidated, I turned away and Peter began directing his anger at John.


Without even trying, Peter succeeded in creating his own
defamable world from a series of obloquious enunciations.

"What the fuck," he yelled adamantly! "You two stupid mother fuckers just ruined
my night. . . God-Damn-it!! What the hell am I supposed to do now? Jesus Christ on
the cross, this can't be happening." It was normal for Peter to display a modicum of
irrationally in his behavior whenever something went awry, but this far exceeded the
normal limit he imposed on an all-around scale of anger. It was a typical teenage screw
up and nothing to get hung about, but Peter was not going to forgive and forget that easy.
So for the rest of the evening he would treat us like a long shadow, keeping his distance.



Little did we know how churlish he would actually become. I was now pondering
the estate of my own mind, and the decision to be made concerning the fate of the
evening was at hand.

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Reviews for chapter 22

Rhianna Walker - You guys are characters!

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PG 107) Something in the air by Thunderclap Newman

PG 108) Tree Man

PG 108) Blowing Dust by Levi - Sheffield, United Kingdom

PG 109) "Be a pin up" - Six foot tall Reproboard

PG 109) Peyote Bud by Scott Scheidly

PG 110) Aether Membrane by Zoltan Boros & Gabor Szikszai

PG 110) Scared Man - Royalty Free Stock Photo

PG 110) Evgeny Shvarts shadow - (author unknown)