"Frieda gives me ecstasy": Book excerpt #5

“Frieda gives me ecstasy”: Book excerpt #5

A girl that I was “sort of” dating decides she wants to do ecstasy with me, not knowing my aversion to psychotropic drugs. The result was pretty interesting.

Enjoy!

* * *



Between work, the club and the radio show, not to mention my own need to hide either in the corner by the big window at the Crowbar or back at the apartment reading, writing and watching bad movies, I really didn’t see much of Frieda. That first night together really freaked me out but when she said she wanted to see me and “do something” together I figured Amanda’s place would be best. I found a night where I didn’t work and Khamish was gone for a few days filming in Oakland.

Frieda came over and looked as cute and sexy as ever. Even knowing what I knew then and her showing up in a multicolored sock cap and North Face jacket, it was good to see her. Although apprehension was looking over my shoulder along with carnal curiosity.

After I took her out for some amazing Thai food and drinks after at the Crowbar, we ended up back at the apartment. There was some kissing, some drinking and me trying to get the vibe if she wanted to do it or not. She didn’t seem all that interested but she did suggest something else.

“Look,” she said, “there’s something I want to do with you but I don’t know if you’ll be into it.”

“What is it?”

She unzipped her jacket that was lying on the floor and produced a tiny ziplock baggie with two large white pills inside.

“It’s X. Have you ever done it?”

I almost did once, ironically, at Burning Man, but warnings from friends and camp mates made me too hesitant to go through with it. They said it would “make me feel good” and make that god forsaken trance music seem more tolerable while at the same time comparing some basic effects to mushrooms and acid. After trying mushrooms once I decided that hallucinogens, even mild ones, are no good for me. I already have enough voices and phantasmagoria in my head thank you, I don’t need some drug to accelerate it and turn me into a drooling buffoon throwing rocks at the moon.

“Will I freak out?” I ask.

“It’s a distinct possibility,” she said. Frieda could even quote Animal House. If I wasn’t so afraid of her, I just might fall for her.

To be quite honest I had been curious about Ecstacy since the early days when it came out and I was exposed to it either at work or in clubs. San Francisco in the late 90s was weird man. All these down and out bars were turned into “lounges” and rock clubs got shut down because dot commie millionaires bought “live work lofts” above them and couldn’t take the full throttle of pseudo bohemian living. I had co-workers, roommates and even bosses that did it. They all claimed it was the bees knees.

So, why not? If it’ll make sex with Frieda even more exciting it’ll make up for all the dry spells I’ve had post Malory and Amanda. Well, except for Nicole but...I didn’t want to think about that.

She handed me a pill. We stood there with those big white aspirin looking things in our palms.

“Are you ready?” she said. “Go.”

Frieda plopped hers in her mouth and after a split second of hesitation I did the same.

“When...um...when does it take effect?”, I asked feeling the chalky horse pill race down my gullet.

“About fifteen or twenty minutes,” she assured “Are you nervous?”

“A little,” I admitted.

“Well don’t be,” Frieda said. “My friend said this was really pure stuff and it’ll just make you feel really really good.”

“That’s what they say.”

So we sat in the bedroom talking, drinking while listening to Portishead and Cocteau Twins when something started happening. After just ten minutes of swallowing the X pill, my body began to get really warm, as if a fever was taking hold. My vision started to blur, my perception began to give out, my knees buckled and my head swam as if I was immersed in a pool of tepid water.

“Something is happening,” I said. “Oh yeah...something is definitely happening!”

Pretty soon the bedroom was awash in a red glaze and I started spinning as the music foamed around me and the lights started to mold and throb. I wasn’t feeling good. I was just tripping balls.

“Jesus Christ!” I said. “You gave me acid. This is acid right? Oh my god. Is X supposed to feel like this?”

Frieda was watching me with concern and confusion while at the same time giggling.

“What are you talking about?” she said. “I don’t even feel anything yet. You’re just being a freak. It can’t hit you that hard that fast.”

Her words spun through my ears and I could take in the information but I could not comprehend. My body was on fire and I felt as if I was in some air pressured submarine. Everything had gotten angular and my extremities twinkled with fairy magic.

“Well...whatever,” I grumbled. “This is...uh...well...this is here. This is...what is this?”

Frieda was on the bed looking up at me. Suddenly her head bobbed down and she slowly craned back up with her eyes shut.

“Oh boy,” she said. “Um...wow. Yeah, this is really good stuff.”

“Is that...good?”

Frieda was silent for a while, what seemed like an eternity. Finally she spoke up.

“OK, Mark,” she began, “this is about as close to an acid trip as I had ever experienced without being on acid.”

“Oh jeeze!” I yelled. “This is not good. My brain is eroding.”

I was so hot that I stripped down to my boxers and started running around the apartment. Everything was crystal clear but had totally changed. The apartment looked more like a maze from Dr. Caligari than a space I was taking care of for Amanda. I started to get into it, but it was too much. I honestly had to have Frieda talk me down.

“Mark, it’s okay. You’re with me.”

You? Who are you? I barely know you! You’re trying to kill me! You’re the devil itself! I’ve heard you scream! No angel would make a ruckus like that!

“It’s just a drug. Just a powerful, wonderful, heavy ass drug.”

That’s right! You’re trying to poison me! That’s it! Lobotomize me with cheap pharmaceuticals and turn me into your sex slave! That actually doesn’t sound too bad except for the lobotomy part!

“Just calm down. Shhhh...”

Frieda then cradled me in her chest and I actually started to relax a bit. For some reason, be it the drug or the fact that I was attracted to her, I was actually thrown into a more reasonable state for the moment. Still reeling from the psychedelia that surrounded and gripped me, I was actually able to clasp into a brief twinkle of clarity.

“Maybe we should go outside and do stuff,” I warbled.

“Uh...no!”

For the next few hours I rode out the effects of that super potent hit of Ecstasy and learned to enjoy it. Music was fun, dancing around was fun and Frieda’s shrill screams of abject lascivious voracity later was actually quite lovely. In fact, she wasn’t loud enough. I do believe I threw the window open and announced to the world of our post orgasmic beatitude.

Take that Phil Collins! Let’s see you drum your way past this chick.