A Long Walk Home

My girlfriend and I decided it would be a nice end to the weekend if we took a little trip together. Right before dinner we polished off three fresh mushrooms each, then we continued with our meal. In about fifteen minutes everything looked really yellow. My girlfriend was staring at me in a funny way and said in a little voice, "When are you supposed to feel it?" I shrugged cooly and said "I dunno."

In another five minutes it was evident to both of us that we were being swept away on something very big. It was almost as if a huge orchestra was playing very quietly- hardly at all, but you knew it was a huge orchestra behind that quiet noise and it was just a matter of time before everything would erupt into a massive, crashing chord that would vibrate through your entire body.

We already had a place in mind: a beautiful, well-kept park outside of town. We rode our bikes over there, stopping every once in a while to watch the cement swimming beneath our feet, and set up camp. I planned ahead and brought water and crackers, and it was warm enough that we would be fine in a t-shirt and shorts all night.

We sat down at the edge of a grassy field under a cluster of maple trees with branches stretching delicately and lightly over our heads. Crows were flying high up in the sky, and though the sun had set on us light was still reflecting off their wings so they resembled glittering black jewels skimming through the sky. As it got dark a soft fog embraced the grassy pasture that we were looking over. The fog was only about two feet above the ground and we could see the mist tumbling into small valleys. My girlfriend and I took off our sandals and walked through it under the moonlight, and we half expected to see fairies flitting by in the air.

Soon we got thirsty so I opened up my bottle of water and took a large swig. It tasted like gasoline and I spit it out instantly. Upon closer observation I could see that someone had filled my bottle with soapy water to clean it, which I didn't notice when we left. So we didn't have any more water, which also rendered the starchy crackers uneatable. It was getting late so we decided to go home.

We jumped on our bikes, and I couldn't ride mine at all. I fell off it and saw that my girlfriend was having the same problem. My first thought was "Jeez we're fucked up!" but I looked closer and saw that we had ridden through a field of goat's heads and our tires were full of punctures. We were going to have to walk three miles back to our house in tiny sandals.

So we set off, and as we got to the edge of downtown I could see a crowd gathering on a dark street corner. As we got closer we could see that it was all large, muscular men standing around in a vague circle and smoking cigarettes. In the middle of the cirle was a drunk girl. She tried to move one way and the circle converged around her. She moved the other way and the circle moved again. They started to edge her off down the street as we were walking by. I whispered to my girlfriend not to look at them, but as soon as we turned the corner I ran to a phone and called 911. I reported what I saw, but since I was still tripping we were gone before the police showed up.

A few blocks later we stopped by Jack in the Box where, as we sat eating, we saw a manager fire a worker. He was very angry with everyone and was trying to do everything by himself. He ran out into the restaurant and emptied the trash cans in a whirlwind of thrashing plastic bags. Everyone was looking at him like he was an alien. Suddenly someone called his name in the kitchen and he turned around, bolted into a full speed run and hurdled over the counter, cash register and all. It was the most amazing athletic feat I have ever seen.

We finally made it home at about 1am, still tripping a little after 7 hours and reflecting on everything we had seen. We were both disappointed at having to return to civilization, but aren't we all. . .