It's a dark place I'm in, dark and unfamiliar. I'm stretched out on a cold metal surface. I don't think I have any clothes on but it's hard to tell since I'm blindfolded and my hands are tied behind my back. There's a dull pain beneath my eyebrows that seems to be spreading to other parts of my face. I'm feverish and weak. My tongue is coated with what feels like pampas grass. There's a bump on my head the size of a Kemp's Ridley turtle egg.



Still, I'm focused.



Kemp's Ridley is the smallest of the eight known species of
sea turtles.  The entire nesting population lives along the
 Texas Gulf Coast between Port Arthur and Puerto Ojo, Mexico.
Large-scale exploitation of the turtles' meat, coupled with
 incidental drowning by shrimp trawlers, has resulted in the
 virtual extinction of this wonderful species. But I digress.


I was trying to remember what happened this evening, trying to figure out how I got here, wherever here is. I was wondering if I took that hit of LSD before I left Houston. I remember thinking about taking it. I remember remembering where I'd stashed it - in my medicine cabinet, inside a jar of petroleum jelly. I remember saying to myself, It's only blotter acid. You'll be fine behind the wheel. I remember I was feeling that an energized high might come in handy later, if things turned weird...



AND THEY DID