Twice Born A Vagabond
A Novel [Copr. 2008]
By D. DeWitt Thomas
Chapter Nineteen

MUSHROOMS AND HOLY MEN

He suddenly appears in the alleyway, running in our direction with a brick in his hand holding it above his head. "You a**hole mother f*ckin' son of a b*tch, you come over here into the alley and I will say it again to your face." He screams at a group of thugs from the neighborhood who hangout on the street at night. "You piece of sh*t," he yells. Now the gang slows their pursuit as they notice that Roky is with us. We duck into the fire escape alleyway cubbyhole refuse as he throws the brick in their direction and they give up the chase.
"Hey, man. What's happening?" Roky asks almost casually. "What's going on, man?" I shout. "It is about time that you show up. We have been waiting on you. We are scheduled to start in just a bit just as soon as Z Z Top gets finished with their set. Are you ready to play? Where is your guitar?" I asked.
"I don't know because there was this guy dressed up like Jesus with a white robe and no shoes who took me to score some really good orange barrels." he responded. "He was carring my guitar in the case for me and that is when these guys showed up and started chasing us. The guy dressed up like Jesus took off running in another direction with my guitar, so I don't know where he or my guitar is," he continues, "but we did score this." He proudly holds out his hand palm open revealing five clear gelatin capsules which contain white powder. "Psylicybin?" I ask. "Yeah, mushrooms." he replies as I secretly think to myself how badly he needs to trim his fingernails. Roky never cuts his fingernails, especially the thumbnail on his left hand, the hand that he uses on the guitar fretboard. His thumbnail was getting so long that it was beginning to curl and turn yellow. Tommy took two of the capsules and gave one of them to Clementine. I took the other one. Mushroom halucinations are a little easier on the nervous system than those that acid cause. As we swallow the drugs, Tommy says to Roky, "Danny was telling us about his water balloon "you"." "Yeah," I chime, allowing my speach to slow in an attempt to create a more serious mood, "shapes and edges are only a perception because we are always evolving through the everchanging environment of time and space. We are at the mercy of our surroundings." Roky seems interested in what I am saying so I continued. "The balloon in the center is "you" and the crystal sphere is the edge of life, you know, the limit. The balloon is "you" in the here and now and the space around it is filled with feelings like pleasure and pain. The balloon rattles around inside the crystal sphere of life experience." I explain and continue because I know I have their interest, plus Roky was listening, which he rarely does when I talk. "So the best state of existence is balance when the balloon is perfectly centered. The idea is to enjoy the transpositioning between pain and pleasure to achieve the ultimate clarity." I concluded. "Isn't that a John Lee Hooker tune that Billy is playing upstairs in the club?" Roky asks. We hear the music that Z Z Top is playing in the club echoing off of the walls of the alleyway as we start to halucinate while sitting on the steps of the old wrought iron fire escape.

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