Mike Walls (one of my best friends in high school) drove around in his car in Portsmouth, Ohio until we finally stopped on Gallia Street near Richard's News and walked into a store which seemed to contain a variety of merchandise including hardware. Since I wanted to buy a model of a small plastic monster, I began looking for one. Walls - also looking for something - walked over to a counter with a window behind which was a person who waited on people. Lines of people were at other counters, but Walls apparently had found a counter without a line.

I walked to another counter, behind which I could see a number of plastic models. I also noticed rows of assembled models on large tall shelves, some of which reached almost to the ceiling. When a woman finally walked up and asked if she could help me, I told her I was looking for a model of a plastic monster. I did not know exactly how to describe the plastic model which I wanted, but I told her I wanted it to be made of soft plastic and not hard plastic.

The woman began looking up on the shelves which displayed statues (about 30 centimeters tall) of roosters. She thought I might like one of those. I told her that that was not what I was looking for, and besides, the roosters were made of hard plastic.

I continued looking on the shelves until I noticed some lizards about 30 centimeters long which looked basically like what I was seeking. One lizard had its tail broken off.

After the woman pulled down a plastic model to show me, she said she had sold many of that type, but I told her that that was not what I wanted. I thought I might want one of the lizards, but I decided to look around more first.

I looked back over to where Walls was; a line of people was now standing there. The person behind the counter had begun waiting on other people in the line and had ignored Walls who just stood there looking confused. Since I thought he would be there a while before anyone waited on him, I decided to mosey more around the store.

I walked around until I finally entered a small side room which seemed to contain mostly hardware. I picked up a leaf rake whose red metal prongs looked more like those of a broom than a rake. Some prongs seemed to be twisted and I began untwisting them.

When I also saw a counter in that room with a man standing behind a window, I realized that the man was my second cousin Don. Apparently, he either did not notice me or he did not want to speak to me, because he did not say anything. Another man walked up and began talking to Don about a trip which Don was going to take somewhere down south. Don was supposed to arrive early in the morning in the destination-town. The man asked Don whether arriving in a strange town early in the morning might be dangerous. Apparently, Don did not think it would be dangerous and he was going to leave soon.

I laid down the rake, walked back into the main room and looked for Walls, but he apparently had left. I figured he had probably walked outside to sit in the car.

When I walked outside onto the pavement, I saw that the car was gone. I walked across the street close to Richard's News, but I still could not see Walls anywhere. I could not understand how he could have left me like that. I thought that he must have thought I had departed and that he had then decided to simply leave.

As I stood there, I saw a girl who I thought I recognized walking up the street. When a second girl walked up and began talking to me, I realized the second girl was Sussie (an old girlfriend from Portsmouth). I walked with Sussie a minute while I continued looking at the first girl. Finally, - referring to the first girl - I asked Sussie, "Is that Laura?" (Laura had been one of my high school classmates ).

The first girl, who could hear me, walked up and said, "Yes, I'm Laura."

I said, "Hi. I'm Steve Collier."

She said, "Yea, I recognized you."

Laura and I talked for a few minutes. She told me she was not as thin as she used to be, and indeed she had gained some weight. I scrutinized her face. She was wearing makeup and I noticed a blackish spot on her right cheek close to her lip. I was unsure whether the mark was from some smeared makeup or whether it was a bruise. I thought, "Well maybe she's married and her husband's been beating her.

I asked her if she were married and she said, "Yea."

We were standing in front of a building. Laura was about to open a door to the building and ascend some stairs. She pointed to a sign on the building which said "Pig" and she told me that was her husband's name. I told her I thought I remembered the name and I thought I knew who her husband was, but I could not remember exactly. She implied that even though she was married, she did not get along well with her husband. Apparently, it was practically as if she were not even married at all.

Continuing to talk with Laura and Sussie, I told them I had built a log cabin. At first I thought I had built the log cabin in another state, but I finally straightened myself out and told them I had built the log cabin up in Gallia County. I told them the cabin was small and only measured 15 feet by 20 feet, but then I corrected myself and I said the cabin was actually 16 feet by 21 feet. One of them said, "Well, that makes it a little bigger."

I told them the cabin was actually quite nice and I added that I was actually thinking about building a little frame house sometime in the future.

I looked down the street and noticed that someone had built a large log cabin right there in town. I looked at the logs of that cabin even while I talked with them.

I asked Sussie if she would like to go do something that evening. She said she would. Laura then acted disappointed, as if she would have liked to have done something with me. Apparently, Laura and her husband indeed were not getting along and I thought perhaps I could go out with her.

Finally, all three of us left together, went out and began drinking something alcoholic. We drank and drank until I was soon thoroughly intoxicated. I became quite disoriented and the next thing I knew Laura and I arrived at a house, which sat on top of a large hill practically as high as a mountain. The house was a small cottage which appeared to have been built by an individual.

Laura's husband was also there and the three of us stood together on the accommodating front porch. I was quite intoxicated and disoriented and I did not know exactly what I was doing there. I walked to one end of the porch and began looking at the view. It was foggy and misty - a cloudy day. In a way the site reminded me of the one on which my Cabin sat. I realized that this was quite a beautiful place for a house and I thought, "This is quite nice."

Laura's husband reminded me of Ron Bell (an unsavory Portsmouth acquaintance). Since I had drunk so much booze, I began thinking that he might have some dope to smoke.

I turned around, walked into the house for a minute and then came back out. I had brought my own car to the house when I had come, but when I returned to the porch, my car was no longer there. I assumed Laura and her husband had left in my can and had deserted me here. That irritated me. I walked back into the house through the living room and toward the back where there was a kitchen. I thought Laura's husband might have some dope there which I could find to smoke.

Sure enough, a baggie containing a small amount of marijuana seeds was lying on the table. I continued looking until I found a larger plastic bag with enough marijuana for perhaps three or four joints. I found some cigarette rolling paper on the table and pulled out one of the papers which were made of plastic instead of regular paper. Nevertheless I thought I would simply roll up a joint.

I was just about to begin rolling when I heard a noise from the front of the house and I thought, "Wait a minute. Somebody's come back."

I threw everything back down, hopefully in the same position I had found it. I walked to the front of the house and went back out onto the front porch. Laura and her husband had returned and were sitting in two chairs on the porch. They had brought back two fellows (each about 19 years old). One fellow was sitting in a chair and the other was sitting on the floor near the front of the porch.

The one sitting in the chair had a half-smoked joint in his hand, while the fellow on the floor had a fresh joint which he was just about to light. The fellow in the chair had just taken a hit from his joint and was about to pass it to the fellow sitting on the floor. I was standing between them and the fellow seemed uncertain whether he should pass the joint to me. I scornfully looked at him and said, "Well, I see you're smoking that crap here."

Actually, I wanted to smoke some. I was just trying to throw the fellow off guard, even though I thought I would immediately smoke some. But then I stopped and thought, "What am I doing? Here I am, I've been drinking like a wild man. And now I'm getting ready to smoke pot."

I tried to remember whether I had stopped drinking and smoking. It seemed I had. I could not understand how I had suddenly begun drinking again and I became quite distraught by the notion. The whole idea of smoking again was making me quite uncomfortable and I was uncertain whether I was going to smoke any marijuana.

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