Just Tripping

Why is it, the cops are always the last ones to know, not that they need to be super cops, word was out, all across town, 200 hits of LSD 25 had made its way to this beach town, the scramble was on, who were the lucky ones going to be? I had been run out of Ocean City, New Jersey, about a month before, I was 15, the cops in O.C. Didn’t have much interest in straighting out my family situation, instead they opted to drop me at the county line. I had a job I’d lost, I’d been washing dishes about two weeks, with a weekend off, I’d be off on my own, I had made some big plans. Hard to say, if they were good or bad, throughout the weekend, I pondered the question, whenever my thoughts, took me there. I had copped a hit of STP, the purple wedge, I heard this stuff lasted three days, perfect, my entire weekend, was all full up, I was excited to get started, about two hours into my shift, I dropped, this wasn’t my first barbecue, I figured I could hold it together. I was wrong! It was just, too damn bright, in that kitchen, for a while, I’d thought I’d been burned, I felt nothing, after about an hour and a half, at the most, in my experience, was for it to take no more than an hour to get off. When it hit, it hit hard, not too long after, I knew it was time to leave, things became very confused, all I had in my mind, was searching out a dark and quiet spot. My job was about six blocks off the beach, as I left, fireworks were going off, the owner was screaming, I thought the best spot for me was out on the jetty. Well, I wasn’t going to let all that noise bum me out, I just didn’t care about a job right then, I made my way to the ocean, the walk was quite bizarre, this STP was a whole different animal, nothing in my experience had prepared me. On the jetty, with big waves crashing on the rocks, I ran into a familiar face, an off duty cop, it took me a minute to figure that out. He’d seen me, while walking his boardwalk beat, I’d been in town a couple weeks. He sorta knew, I think, something strange, was going on with me, I thought it be better, if I found a different jetty. It was a long night, that was sure strong stuff, as the sun came up on the ocean, I was beginning to settle in, it wasn’t going away, 12 hours later, it was like, I had dropped an hour or two before. This all started on a Friday night, I got through Saturday, and Saturday Night, by the time Sunday Morning came around, I was feeling pretty beat up, I must have looked a mess, I found acceptance, believing this was what my life experience forward would be, a little fearful I had done some serious damage. Peaking on this stuff, was real intense, the balance of this experience, was similar to what one feels, as they peak on acid, three days of self inflicted insanity! Late Sunday night, I settled in with a crowd of kids, playing guitars, and singing, crawled up on a pavilion, boardwalk bench, and go figure, I finely fell to sleep. Anyhow, a cop wakes me up, I see this group of kids walking away down the boardwalk, I Thank the cop, I start walking away too. That cop told me to hold on, it was about 3am, he said, we were heading down to the station. I guess I’d been sleeping 4, or so hours, I was feeling pretty good, before falling off, I had wondered whether, I would ever come down, I was really glad I had! I’m put in this room at the station, three cops in ties come in, and start firing questions at me, I guess I’m giving them good answers, I understand now, why they were so curious, I’m 15, why aren’t I with my family? I think I wore them down, they had no interest in getting involved, they decided to hold me, until I could get payed, from my old job. They decided the best way to deal with me, was to take me to the bank, help me gather my grip, then drive me to the Ocean / Cape May County line, send me on my way, going south, across, on the ferry, heading for Ocean City Maryland.