Story 1
Dear fellow trippers
1 1/2 weeks ago my friend David and I had an extremely traumatic experience
which I am sure will make all of you even more convinced that the police are
a bunch of fucking bastards and that the system (wherever you are) stinks to
high heaven.
But first let me tell you about the circumstances of this experience.
5 days earlier I went to a huge rave (about 6000 people) in Cape Town,
South Africa (where I live and where this whole story is set) ; I dropped
a cap of acid and had the most uplifting, euphoric experience of my life.
There were no fantastic visuals or anything - in fact 4 rfiends had caps from
the same batch and said they were practically duds. Anyway , my trip was so
good that I thought I must be the luckiest person out of all the thousands of
people there ; I won't go into much more detail about it cause there are no
words to appropriately describe what I had experinced. The point of this
is that when it came to the trip Dave and I were to have later that week,
I *knew* that it would be good; I was still basking in the glory of the one
at the rave.
This was also to be our first trip outside of clubs or raves ,so I aws
nervous but excited with anticipation. The night before we went to a club
to buy the acid - we only got one cap to split between us, but this was a
double-dipped silver surfer flown in fresh from Amsterdam that afternoon,
so we presumed we had made a prety good purchase.
Now for the main part of the story. The next evening Dave and I went to the
shopping complex at the cape Town waterfront and bought tickets for the
animated film Pocahontas. At 5.15 we went into the cinema and dropped our
half-tabs.Half an hour and that lovely tingling feeling we know so well began.
After an hour or so I was getting very restless and sucking furiosly on the
lollypop I had. But I was determined to follow the plot of the movie right to
the end and in fact I did - despite sometimes getting lost in arbitary little
details of the animation, and becoming aware that the walls around me were
changing colour.
Then the movie ended and... bang! pow! ..the trip kicked in so hard I didnt
know what hit me! We could hardly get out of our seats cause everything was
so fucked up. When we made it outside the archway with pictures on the walls
was warping hectically and I felt warm with pleasure and weirdness. Dave and
I needed to go for a piss and when I stood at the urinal I thought peeing was
the funniest stupidest thing in he world. We then proceeded to walk around the
shopping centre, amazed at the wonderful sights and sounds that hit us. There
was a funny old dude playing the piano- this sounded like the most hectic
happy hardcore we'd ever heard. I watched David's lollypop pulsating while he
told me that he was seeing it leave long trails when he waved it around.
We took a stroll outside where it was really cold, so decided to got o the car
to fetch our jackets. At the parking lot there was a security guard who seemed
to be watching our every move. Now in the car we had a couple of joints
waiting for us (this was to be yet another first for us - smoking up while
peaking on acid) but I said to Dave that we'd better leave that for now
because the security guard was making me a bit nervous... she was looking
straight at us and talking into her radio... I didn't want any cops to come
roaming around looking for someone like us to pounce on. So anyway we left
the car and I forgot about being worried and continued to enjoy my superb
trip.
We headed for the BMW pavilion where they have luxury cars hanging from the
ceiling - this was intensly amusing - and clean , smooth decor , polished
floors etc which was very pleasing to look at. But of course we wanted some
more adventure, so we headed back towards the shopping centre... when we came
to cross a road I remarked to Dave that I could feel the sounds of the passing
cars deep within me, but all he could do was burst out laughing in reply.
Back at the shopping centre we went into a sweet shop filled with millions of
brightly colored sweets; I somehow managed to buy a long stick of gum and when
we came out of the shop I just began playing with it in my hands cause I didnt
know what else you were supposed to do with it ; I also marvelled ( and
laughed my head off) at how I had actually managed to acquire this gum.
We walked into a shop that we just couldnt understand; it had a whole lot of
interestig-looking stuff with people looking very interested in everything, so
we tried to look interested but simply couldnt. So we walked out and just
strolled around feeling like we were about to explode with energy any second,
every now and then closing eyes to see everything rushing towards us and
expecting (and wanting ) to be swallowed up by the ground at any moment. We
went into a bookstore which had the most unbelievably brightly coloured
magazines, toys, books, stationery, floor, ceiling , shelves, etc. I saw
other people looking interested in the things people are normally interested
in looking at, like magazines and cd's , so I tried to do the same to look a
bit normal; but trying to concentrate on anything just made me more inclined
to stare at the stupidest things, like blank paper, pencils, etc.
We sat on a bench in the middle of the complex where we could just watch
evereything happening around us. I said to Dave that it looked like people
were all walking leaning to the side, so he told me that he could tell what
type of people they were by the way they walked.
After a bit more walking around feeling very amused with ourselves, we decided
to go out to the car to get the dope that was waiting for us. On the way to
the parking lot I remembered the gum, so we proceedede to stuff our mouths
with the stuff ...a thoroughly satisfying experience. Once inside the car Dave
noticed that same bitch of a security guard staring at us from some distance,
so we just remained calm and chilled out for a while, enjoying the gum and
the pictures behind our closed eyes. After a while we got out adn opened the
boot to get the joints... we were planning on goin for a walk towards a
darker area so that we could smoke them without being seen, but at this moment
there were still a few too many peolpe around so we sat in the front of the
car again chewing furiously on the gum and laughing and carrying on like
comlete loonies.
Eventually we couldn't contain oursselves any longer - we just *had* to smoke.
So we decided that we would walk to the exit of the parking lot and along the
road that lead out of there towards Sea Point (a suburb) - this was a dark
and quiet road and we thought it would be okay to smoke as we walked along.
Before we got out of the car, I was agonizing over what to do with my gum,
cause I didnt want to smoke with it ins my mouth but it was so good that I had
to save it for later; so I was immensely pleased with myself when I left this
huge glob perched on top of the steering wheel.
We got out of the car with our joints in our pockets and went round to the
back to put something (can't remember what) in the boot. As we were getting
ready to close the boot and move on, I noticed a police van drive slowly
past... it then stopped almost directly opposite us and when I looked at
the driver our eyes locked in one terrifying moment. We started walking away
and I saw out of the corner of my eye the reversre lights of the van come on
and it backed slowly after us. I was now panicking . I _knew_ that the cops
were now onto us and I was desperate to get away to avoid being arrested for
being in possesion of dope. We were going towards the exit of the parking lot
now and I couldn't understand why Dave was so calm about all of this - didn't
he know that the cops were about to get us? I tried to tell him to head back
towards the shopping centre where we could get lost in the crowd, but he was
just asking dumb questions about what direction we would take to Sea Point.
I realised that it must be the trip thats making me paranoid ( this happend
on a previous trip - where I became terrified and it turned out to be my
imagination ; when I realised this , the trip turned into one of the best
I'd ever had )
So with difficulty, I followed Dave's lead and continued walking with him.
But I couldn't shake this feeling of fear, especially after walking past yet
another cop van (although this one was empty)... all the goodness of the trip
up to now had been converted into gut-wrenching panic; I was acutely aware
that we were being watched - particularly by the police. I heard voices which
I sensed were talking about how to get us. As we left the parking lot and
started along that dark road I was sure I saw that same van circling the area
from which we had just come, and I was expecting it -and other cops - to come
and get us at any moment now. I thought about getting rid of the dope now
while we still had the chance, but then I saw how cool and collectde Dave
looked adn I thought he would think I was silly to waste perfectly good
joints.
I desperately tried to hang onto the rationallity that seemed to come to Dave
so easily, but the more I did so the more I thought about how we were walking
straight into a carefully laid trap... I thought about going to prison and
my "normal" friends and the rest ofsociety condemning me; I thought about how
I would bring shame to my parents and relatives - and also how I had just
blown my chance to continue with the fun , free life I had been living at
this time, though this idea seemed insignificant in contast with the shit
we were getting ourselves into at this very moment. All this time though
there was a slender thread of hope I could still cling to - the knowledge
that I was, after all, tripping and I could be compleely freaked out because
of that alone.
This thread of hope disappeared completely when the cop van drove up and
stopped beside us. Oh fuck! My heart was pounding. The guy in the van talked
to us in a very strange way. He was telling us something about people breaking
into cars in the parking lot and he wanted to check if ours was okay. In
between sentences he was speaking into his radio saying "... we've got two
guys here..." or something like that... I knew that we were being stalled
while backup cops were being called. He was asking us where we were going and
why we would park our car at the Waterfront if we were going to Sea point. I
was glad that Dave was still calm enough to handle the situation. He was
acting innocent and seemed to be speaking very sensibly, so I let him do all
the talking - later I found out that Dave actually had _no idea_ what was
going on cause he was so tripped out - meanwhile I was (even in my petrified
state) very impressed and relieved that he was putting on such a good act.
Dave suggested we walk back to the parking lot; thecop agreed with this -
aparently Dave had the idea all the time that this cop was actually tryig
to help! So back we headed , and what does this dickhead of a cop do? He
follows slowly at about 20 metres behind us, headlights watching every
movement we make. I was saying to Dave "how the hell are we going to get
rid of this dope?" Despair. We couldn't drop it now - the cop would see.
Then Dave turned round and stopped walking. By this time he had also become
suspicious but luckiyl wasnt nearly as freaked out as I was. The fucking
bastard then sped up to us so quickly and stppped so close that he almost
knocked us down. He told us to hop in and as he rolled slowly by and I
realised that we would be heading straight back in his van I took the
opportuniy to slip th ejoint out of my pocket and let it fall silently to
the ground. Walking round the back of the van to the passenger side I noticed
with horror that Dave hadn't yet got rid of his. I whispered loudly "drop it,
drop it!" and just before he climbed in the van he too had flicked away the
joint.
We sped quickly back to the parking lot where the cop dropped us off , only
to be greeted by another one of the jerks. This one also began asking stupid
questions and trying to get us to give ourselves away by not knowing where
"our" car was - meantime the first idiot had dropped us in a parking lot with
hundreds of cars; it would take anyone a few moments to get their bearings
and work out were they had parked. At first I was babbling incohehrently back
at this second cop, fully aware that he would think I was acting very
suspiciously, but then I thought: now wait a minute! we're safe now . Fuck the
stupid cop. I angrily showed him the keys which I took from my pocket
(unfortunately I didnt have the wit at that moment to also tell him to shove
his head up his ass) and went to the car - which Dave had now found - an
loudly demonstrated how the key fitted the lock perfectly.
At this point I noticed with disbelief that the lump of gum I had left on the
steering wheel was gone ; I was now *convinced* that while the cops had
happily kept us stalled out on that dark road, they were busy searching our
car for drugs. I was shocked and releived that we had in fact had the dope
with us out there and not left it in the car... it turned out , howeverr, that
this whole idea was just fantasy (the gum had dropped to the floor of the car)
but this idea did contribute to the rush of thoughts and contemplation I had
a short while later while we were sitting down outside the shopping centre
again trying to get over this ordeal.
What I thought about and discussed with Dave, while I awas physically shaking
and feeling very nervous and fragile, was how it is so crazy and unfair that
the police and society consider us to be criminals - I mean , if someone asks
me if I have comted a crime I'll say no, but according to the law I should
have been put in jail long ago. Why is it that taking drugs is offensive when
it harms no one (not even the user, if he is not stupid about it) ; if I was
in another group of friends I might have been into drinking gallons of beer.
But of course this is _fine_, and even encouraged in society! And then theres
the police. It seems that they are just out to harass us; when they were
watching us in that parking lot they just decided that two young guys just
having fun must be up to something that posed a danger to society! Yeah,
right!
Anyway , all this thinking was getting me extremely distressed, so we went to
the CD store and listened to some music through headphones to try to get
ourselves up again. Somehow Dave managed to get his trip gooing well again
but when I closed my eyes while listening to the music I saw frightening
images of people all around me watching me and I could sense their suspicion
ofme. The music did help slightly, not by relaxing me, but by giving me a
sense of familiarity, of something I knew and liked. I felt a little more
comforable.
When we left that store all remaining traces of my trp, except for a feeling
of nervousness, vanished. Dave was still having a good time - the experience
had obviously not affeced him as harshly as it had affected me - which made
me feel more and more pissed off, as the evening wore on , that the cops had
done me out of a perfectly good trip.
Well, thats the end of this story... right now it is perhaps too soon after
this experience to have learnt anything from it; I am still feeling really
resentful and feel that I have an unfinished trip that I have to make up
sometime. I won't go on preaching my views now... you can take what message
you will from this story.
Enough said. Whew!