This morning, while I waited for some sunlight to give some energy to my batteries, an incident from my checkered past occurred to me.
I was eighteen years old and had just returned from a hitch-hiking trip to the west coast. I was living in an apartment with several other folks in a Quincy, Illinois commune. Kevin, a flagrantly gay guy, liked to dress in leather. He paid the rent. Ron, a Vietnam vet who looked liked Robert Redford dressed in fatigues, also lived there. Some other people came and went.
One afternoon I was alone in the apartment. There was a knock at the door. I opened the door and was surprised to see David, a guy in my high school graduating class. I hadn't seen him in six months, an interval which was like decades back then.
"David!", I said. "So what have you been up to since graduation?"
"Oh, nothing much. I thought I'd get a job here in town before going off to the university next year."
David was always one of those hard-working clean-cut types. He looked to be perfect corporate or military fodder. In high school he didn't hang out with the hippie/arts/music/drama crowd; i.e., my friends. He continued:
"I have a problem and I thought you might be able to help me out. A guy I know sold me a vial of white powder. I don't know what it is, but the stuff is taking me down! I can't keep this stuff, as I'll keep on using it. Do you want it?"
"Well, sure, I'm sure we can find a use for it here."
He gave me the vial, left, and I never saw him again.
I was reckless back then and I ingested perhaps half a teaspoon of the white powder. It hit me hard! It felt like a "speedball", a mixture of heroin and cocaine, with a lot of LSD mixed in.
Before long I was prostrate on the floor. I felt like I was on a train track, an oval track which ran around the living room floor. Every time the train ran over me I convulsed. I was lucky that I didn't die! My robust part-Swedish constitution saved me again.
Needless to say, I became a bit more cautious after that experience!