i remember saying something like i do a little bit light-headed maybe you should drive
suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats
all swooping and screeching and diving around the car and a voice was screaming holy jesus
never mind it's your turn to drive
no point mentioning these bats i thought poor bastard will see them soon enough
fine
we had two bags of grass 75 pellets of mescaline five sheets of high powered blotter acid a salt
shaker half full of cocaine a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers downers screamers laughers
also a quarter tequila quarter rum case of beer pine of raw ether two dozen angles
not that we needed all that for the trip but once you get locked into a serious drug collection
the tendency is to push it as far as you can
the only thing that really worried me was the ether there is nothing in the world
more helpless and irresponsible and afraid than a man in the depths of an ether binge
and i knew we'd get into that rotten stuff pretty soon a house subcommittee report
says illegal drugs killed 160 american gis last year 40 of them in vietnam
no wait we can't stop here this is bat country
god damn i've never run a convertible before
is that right well i guess you're about ready then aren't you we're your friends we're not
like the others man really no more of that talker i'll put the [ __ ] leeches on you understand
get in
how long can we maintain that one how long before one of us starts raving and jabbering at this boy
what will he think then this same lonely desert was the last known home of the manson family
would he make that grim connection when my attorney starts screaming about bats
and huge manta rays coming down in the car if so well we'll just have to cut his head
off and bury him somewhere because it goes without saying that we can't turn him loose
he'd report us at once to some kind of outback nazi law enforcement agency and
they'll run us down like dogs jesus jesus i see that or just think it was i talking
did they hear me it's okay it's just admiring the shape of your skull maybe i better have a
chat with this boy i thought perhaps if i explain things he'll rest easy all right listen there's
one thing you should probably understand can you hear me good i want you to have all the background
this is a very ominous assignment with overtones of extreme personal danger
i'm a doctor of journalism man this is an important goddammit this is a [ __ ] true story
our vibrations were getting nasty but why was there no communication in this car had
we deteriorated to the level of dumb beasts i want you to understand that this man at
the wheel is my attorney he's not just some dingbat i found on this trip man
he's a foreigner i think he's probably samoan it doesn't matter though does it are you
hell no i didn't think so because in spite of his race this man is extremely valuable to me
oh [ __ ] i forgot about the beer you want some how about some ether what
you