MIAMI

I had three Lives, in Huntsville,Texas.
The first Life was in between my time with P, and the leading Edge of my Wild Years. The last 2 were consecutive, after Wreck.

The first of these was after I had left Birdhouse(Blues Band)…I had been jamming with my Brother, formed Hotwired Dumptrucks….and moved in with him, at the Trailer, outside of H-Town…

The last was after that band had dissolved,after my pseudo Breakdown(running off to Greenbriar), and I had a windfall opportunity(from Dad) to have my own place. In Miami Apartments, not far from Sam Houston Campus. I lived alone, at first…

This was the only period that I was actually Serious about College.(I had always(Mostly,lol) done well at school…but during these two semesters, I really got into my “studies”…Fall, I was mostly alone…Come Spring, and warming, I could be found at the Pool, reading Aristotle, Ginsberg, Geology and RTF…I had my own Table, a Tan, and was, indeed, Found.

It began with Jeff the Maintenance Guy. Th was around, a lot, as well…she had broken off with Bro…and we were quite close, during this period. So I held Court, at my Table by the Pool…watching the Wildlife, aloof. Frat Boys, carousing…a whole Clan of Black Dudes, five doors down from my own…”White Bitches” in tow….my inner Sociologist was quite satisfied.
Soon Maintenance Jeff was introducing me to others in the Complex. The Summer Exodus had begun…town was thinning out…and it was only us few who stayed on. Weed was the True Social Lubricant. Sno was there, dealing Weed from his Mountain Bike…I met Eric, the Jock…and his woman, Arianna…and fell in love(I was in love a lot, in those days…Th, not the least. But how could I pursue my Bro’s recent Girlfriend?!). My apartment became a Magnet for Lost Souls, as it were…Jazz and obscure 70’s Rock on my cobbled together stereo…lotsa Drink, and Weed….it is all very Hazy. I first remember K, living on my couch…not unusual…there were many people I didn’t know crashing at my place. She moved into my room….I was rescuing her(there I go!) from the attentions of the other denizens of the Living Room…Other Jeff, and “Ze Little Black Boy”(ZLB)…and many others…I was the Chairman….watching all the Crazy unfold around me, with Clinical Detachment…
It was K who knew about the Shroom Fields…and thus began the Summer at Miami! We procured bags of them… all in one day…wandering in the large cow pastures, eating caps as we picked…not realising that we were Tripping Balls….it was so very Peaceful…

Realising, at length, our predicament, we endeavored to locate the car…Other Jeff was waiting there, at the end of a logging road…wondering what the hell had happened to us. By the time we got back to town,Paranoia had set in…Surely everyone Knew! (they didn’t, of course…this is merely an occasional feature of Psilocybin Intoxication). To the dark enclave of my Apartment..shades drawn…peeking out to see if we were followed…it dawned on us that we had inadvertently picked a great quantity of Shrooms…what could we do with them? I found the big,bulk-bag of Koolaid…and hit on an idea! Shroom-Sicles!!!

Blender, and koolaide and sugar, ice trays and toothpicks….in the freezer. While this was being implemented, the usual bunch was starting to show up(it was around noon, by now). K passed out cups full of Shroom-Aide…before long, the whole crowd of us were Blazing Bright.

The rest of the Summer were like this(we really had a LOT of Shrooms)….K was an Artist….she began Painting on the walls…soon, everyone was contributing to the “murals”…(deposit was forfeit!)
All the wandering gang, all the itinerant weirdos, who frequented my place, (T will remember!)…we Tripped for the rest of the Summer.

I was in an unusual position…I wanted Th…we were closer than ever, and I grokked that she would accept my hand, if I asked…but I worried about my Bro….then there was Arianna…same deal…
But K was living in my Bed….and was attached to me like a stray dog(in the best sense of the phrase)…
Fall Semester began…our run of the place was at an end….with more people around, the cops were hanging around more often. Our ancient and large console TV gave out during a football game…K, Other Jeff and ZLB were crazy mad…took the damned thing out to the dumpster, set it afire, and slew it with sticks and baseball bats…
By November, I felt encircled. Cops knew me…had seen the “writing(and art) on the walls”, as it were…and the Dean had called me in, effectively ending my College Experience….I felt a Great Need to Leave….

K,ZLB and I absconded, to Austin…New Crazy, New Adventures.(K and I ended up Married!)
That Summer, what I remember of it(lol) was one of the High Points(lol!) of my Life.

I had been the Central Figure of my own Scene…Artists, Musicians, Rednecks, Neohippies, Black Folks,”Serious Students”, and ne’er do wells, even the Palestinians who ran the Beer Store….Egalitarian Nuttiness…disparate souls,all…and all were welcome at My Miami.

“No Stairway”.

LOL.(for Tom)