Watching the TV that didn't exist

There was a health food store in Atlanta that I used to visit with friends. Mitch, the owner, was a prototype of newagers to come. You know the type. Self-importantly well-intentioned, psychic power razzle-dazzle. That was much of what appealed to Ray, the person who found the store.

Ray was a friend of Gordon's from back home in Union City, PA. He'd obviously read too many issues of Doctor Strange and Believed himself to have mastered astral projection. In one of his flights he learned that his soul-mate, the woman of his dreams lived in Atlanta. So he moved there to find her.

Ray was on a juice fast. He'd read that people could live only on air if only they'd try. The juice fast was an intermediate step. he lifted weights. Gordon said that back home Ray was built like Conan. Evidently the fast had cost him a lot of muscle mass but he was still pretty impressive.

But back to the vitamin store shaman. I laugh at him but he was very likeable. A key skill if your livelihood depends on selling crap. Mitch convinced me to Jimson Weed and Yohimbe bark. The latter was supposed to give me interesting dreams. It didn't. It was pretty much inert. I've since used Yohimbe extract. It is a great workout stimulant. But you can't sit still much less dream.

I don't recall his sales pitch on Jimson Weed. It certainly wasn't inert. I rolled a joint of it. Nothing happened. I got impatient so I made some awful tea. Later I watch television. Some science fiction movie. That was a neat trick. There wasn't a TV in the apartment.

My roommates Gordon and Ebba had planned to go out that evening. My behavior was so queer they decided to stay and baby-sit me. They said I'd tried to eat a comic book with a spoon.

Shortly thereafter I went back to Savannah to visit Victor and Nancy. We all smoked or drank some Jimson Weed. I don't remember anything from that night. The next day while Victor and Nancy were away I sat around the house with their son, Sean. He was pretty young. Kindergarten age. I sat there listening to him say all sorts of weird and obscene things. Not that he did. Even as I heard them I knew that he hadn't. That was pretty scary.

A couple of days latter I said thing to my father that left him sure I was a drug addict. He never told me what I'd said. John took some naturally. A couple of days latter he went to a doctor's office. Routine appointment. But fled when the receptionist turned into a hatrack.

This stuff grows wild in many areas. Is free and legal. You can even order it by mail. If you think life has lost its potential for thrills you can try it. Not that I ever will again. If I ever wanted to destroy someone who smoked pot I'd give him a joint laced with Jimson Weed hoping he'd go out for a ride.