Monday morning we packed up the Monkeemobile and headed for San Francisco -- we were going to go to the Summer Solstice celebration on Wednesday. Peter and I were exhausted from staying up all night jamming so Davy shrank us before we set out and the two of us curled up in the backseat, using Micky’s lap as a pillow, and slept most of the day.
We were staying with Steve Stills and Buffalo Springfield and when we reached their Pad and unpacked, the guys dragged me off to the Blue Unicorn for dinner.
"Well Len. Congratulations. As of today, you’ve been with us for six months," Mike drawled.
"Really? It’s been that long?" I gasped.
"Yes. January 20th," Davy said.
"And we hope you never leave! You’re part of the family now," Micky said.
"Yes. I can’t let my girl leave me," Peter whispered in my ear.
I beamed. "How could I leave such a wonderful family? Seriously, though, the feeling of pure joy when we got that standing ovation Saturday night . . . " I paused. "This is what I want to do with my life. Sing, play . . . and write fiction on the side."
"We’re glad. Now, let’s eat!" Micky said. We all rolled our eyes and groaned.
The next morning we woke before dawn and headed into the park. Mike and Isa stayed behind, sleeping in, but Peter and I were off and into the center of the park well before the start of the festivities. Micky and Davy, we later learned, had seen the growing crowd and headed back to bed.
As the sun rose the Summer of Love was announced to be officially begun. Flowers and acid tabs were passed around, and Peter snagged some of each for us.
"I’ve never tried this before . . . it’s . . . man I forgot the full name but they call it acid. It’s supposed to be a groovey experience," Peter said.
"Lysergic acid diethylamide," I said softly. "LSD." I shook my head. "Never had it."
"Well then, you feeling adventurous today?" I shrugged. Peter grinned and handed me the tab. "Well let’s try it. I’m curious. Bottoms up!"
When we returned to the Buffalo Springfield’s Pad for brunch, we were still tripping. Colours seemed surreal, as if we’d stepped into a technicolour world. Smells seemed that much stronger and I felt as if I was floating on air . . . although that could have been because I was with the man I loved.
And I now realized that he was the man I loved. I may have been a stolid Dolenzkateer before but being linked to Micky made the idea of romance fall by the wayside. It would be like dating my brother! But Peter . . . I thought back to my occasional bouts of Torkaholicitis, the times I’d spent swooning over videos of him performing . . . the Justus video, with him in black leather jeans and a black silk shirt . . . and I knew that I’d found the man I wanted to live out the rest of my days with.
We came down from the acid high in the late afternoon. Micky was the only one still there, everyone else having gone to explore the psychedelic shops or do other stuff.
"Well well well. The astronauts have returned," he sneered.
"What?" Peter asked.
"I think he’s talking about our trip," I said.
"Darn right I am. What did you two think you were doing, using that . . . that . . . STUFF? It’s untested, they don’t know if there are ill effects . . . at least not yet." At my gasp he glared at me and continued, "Yes, I checked into your memories. You were too far gone to even notice. You knew this stuff isn’t good for you and you took it?"
"I . . . I . . . " I hung my head. "I’ve always been curious . . . it was a spur-of-the-moment thing."
"Me too. I didn’t know about it but I’ve heard that it was really groovey stuff," Peter added softly.
"Just don’t do it again," Micky admonished. We agreed. "Now that we all understand each other, let’s go shopping! I wanna check out the Psychedelic shop."
Last updated 03 DEC 98
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