Strippers and Acid 5: The Dose

The boys and Jim divvied up the acid in the living room, cutting it into tenstrips (that is, 10 dose strips of paper), and then subdividing one of the strips so they could get a more reasonable dose. Jim and I split a tenstrip as we were walking out the door.

I remember that it was almost dark, and warm for that early in the year, when Nadine's hand caught my elbow. We walked alone for a second, and on impulse I asked her if she'd like to share a hit of MDMA with me. She said "yes, but not now. We're still working now." I nodded, and felt the little cellophane wrapper in my front pocket. Then we were back in the maelstrom that was the limousine.

The boys were badgering Shanna to take some acid. She didn't want any part of it, and already had the sort of walleyed look of someone who's just realizing what she's gotten herself into. She practically jumped on my lap when Nadine and I climbed in, and I spent the next few minutes trying not to listen to her and Nadine whisper about whether it was "safe."

Now, this is exactly why I'd never get in a limo with a bunch of bachelor party goons, if I was a hot girl. I mean, I've never seen anything bad actually happen (sexual assault-wise), but it's GOT to happen pretty frequently.

I asked where we were going, and I was told to the rooftop hotel suite at some joint just off I40. But first, we had to pick up our "under 21" contingent at some sort of all ages club around the corner.

This was bad for a lot of reasons: first, it gave Nadine a chance to slip away from me (which was certainly her prerogative, and given Shanna's only slightly subsided panic over the acid, fairly likely); second, I was on a pretty good dose of LSD, and as I've said before, it's bad to take a big dose with strangers, especially in a public place; finally, it's an underage club, and it was a place I'd never heard of, so it was probably going to suck.

I was engaged in some subtle leg- and arm- maneuvering with Nadine (which might have been the early effects of the acid, but I prefer to think not) when Shanna started to screech:

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS!!! WHAT DID YOU BASTARDS DO TO ME??!!"

That's when things went into bullet time. She was sitting beside me, and as I tried to switch focus from Nadine's thigh to Shanna's screaming, I noticed she (Shanna) had a champagne glass in one hand. The other held a small strip of paper, still standing straight up. It was a 10 strip of acid. She started to roll down the window, cursing up a storm in the hysterical manner of someone who has finally lost it.

I had to act quickly, and when I did, I acted out of habit. I reached out and stuffed the whole tenstrip in my mouth, then quickly chased it with the contents of her glass.