We were all standing and waiting to be seated by the waitress, and I took the opportunity to check them out. Covertly of course from behind my book. I had gotten pretty good at people watching, and it was something that I would use for the rest of my life. There was four of them, One girl of average build with a little chunkyness around the hips and long black hair. The second, who looked to be with the girl was tall and slim, with close cropped brown curls. The other two were not as tall as the first boy, but both around six feet. One of them has blonde hair that was right at his collar, and the other had dirty brown hait almost down to his waist.

Just then the waitress called my name, well she called Anne anyway. I had come to think of Anne as me while I was traveling, and it became me so much that when someone would call out something on the street that kinda sounded like it I would turn.

She sat me at a small booth at the back of the resturaunt, and no surprise she sat the group of kids right close, as if to keep us away from her regular customers. I had ordered quickley and had a steaming cup of black coffee. I picked up my book again, and hadn't gotten two paraghrphs in when I heard a squeal from the girl.
"oooh I love that book!!" she shrieked
I looked up and she was getting out of her chair and coming over to me.
She introduced herself as Sanya and we chatted briefly about Tom Robbins. I asked her not to tell me about the book since I had just bought it and didn't know anything about it. She agreed and invited me over to their table. I moved over and everyone intorduced themselves. The curley headed one was Sanya's boyfriend Josh, Long Hair was Jesse, and the other one was Christopher. They were from Canada, mostley from BC, but The girl was from Edmonton, Alberta. They had come to Seattle to visit a freind of theirs that moved down here to go to school and were heading there after breakfast. I was invited to go with after I told them that I was hitching across country. So we ate and I finished my coffee, and headed out together. We wound our way throught the streets and found the dorms where their friend was staying. We had been hanging out for a while and the girl they had visited was telling them about this sculpture under a bridge of a huge troll
It was amazing. Made entirely out of concrete and located on North 36th Street under the George Washington Bridge (Aurora Bridge). I had never seen anything like it! We spent the rest of the day being shown the oddities of seattle, but the troll was what stuck in my memory. All of us ended up sneaking into the dorm to crash for thenight and the next morning were repacking our bags to get going when the campus police showed up. Someone in the dorm had said that were were there and the cops came to investigate. Fortunatly no one had anything on them since we had smoked the last of the pot the night before. The cops took our names and whatnot and ran them through the computer. I had givin my "Anne" name and pretended I didn't know my social. That's when I found out that unless they have that they can't find you in their system...or at least they couldn't then.

We bailed pretty quick then and I realised that having an ID on me might cause a little trouble if I ever really got into trouble with the cops and tried to pass of my alias, so the nearest trashcan we passed my ID and ss car went in it wrapped in a paper towel. Boy would I regret that later. Jesse and Josh wanted to go home after that before they headed down to San Francisco andagain I was invited, so we pooled our money and got 5 bus tickets to their home town.

Well, I thought to myself, Canada here I come

We crossed a few hours after leaving Seattle, and in less than another we re at Josh's home. Nothing too exciting happened that night. No parents were there, so we were able to hang out, get high and relax. They were all vegans, and it was the first time I had tried anything that didn't feature meat in some capacity for any meal other than breakfast. Sanya made some veggie stirfry cooked in rice iol, and wrapped in a corn tortilla. I had never had anything that tasted so strange and good before, and ate at least my share.
With their funds and whatnots replenished we went back to the bus the next morning and back down into Washington. I had about $60 left to my name and was getting ready to seperate from them when they mentioned they were going to San Francisco. Again I agreed to come, but figured that I would meet them there to save the cash. They had a reservation at Travellodge in fisherman's warf

So after they went off to the airport, for a commuter flight was only 25 dollars at the time, I hit the freeway. I-5 to be specific, straight down Cali to the city by the bay. Little did I know that there I was going to stay for the next few months.
 
I went by thumb again knowing that it would take me at the least 8 hours to get down there, and that’s if I managed to get a couple long haul rides. The first ride I caught was a hippie couple, that were heading to Santa Cruz and we talked for a few hours about the sghts of frisco. Mostly what we discussed was a book called Ringolevio by Emmet Groban. It’s a book that talks a lot about the San Francisco Mime Troope, and how the protagonist viewed normal society to be steamrolling over art and personal expression. The book also branched from the Mime Troope to something called The Diggers. The Diggers in the book began Giving free food out to the homeless kids in golden gate park, and when people came to eat they would be asked to step through a large yellow frame called “the Free Frame Of Reference”. Basically the book was about giving back to rights to an alternate point of view and a less than mainstream way of life. Not just accepting it, but living it.

I found this amazing and profound that we would be talking about not only where I was going, but what I was trying to do with my life. Of course that might have had something to do with the mushrooms that they were as free with as their opinions. Finally late that night I arrive, not to far away from Fisherman’s Warf. I was able to find the Travellodge with little difficulty, and hooked back up with the others shortly after that.

We took a bus up to Haight/Ashbury too see what was going on there, and to my surprise it looked as if little had changed from the pictures I hd seen from the 60’s and 70’s. On almost every corner were kids begging for spare change, and slinging drugs. Everything from gutter punks and junkies to hippie wannabe’s.
We went all the way up to Golden Gate Park where most of the homeless lived, and I recalled from the talk about the book, that the park was where “the diggers” were handing out food. I looked around still feeling the effect of the mushrooms and everything seemed to have a clairity. I knew that no matter where the group I was with would go next I was staying here



There will be more laer, so keep your eyes out for an edit addition



ok here's the rest for today

We spent the next few days roaming around the city, and during that Jesse and I hooked up for a bit, we had come across some blotter acid, actually one of the guys that worked directly with the chemist, and had gotten a pretty hefty kickdown. So we were on a nonstop trip for two days wandering the streets and eventually falling back into the hotel. It seemed natural to take advantage of our “heightened awareness” and we fell into bed together. Here I discovered that I had a bit of a talent for domination, nothing violent, but a leadership quality if you will. Jesse was a natural submissive so there really wasn’t any issues there either. Unfortunately that made it a mite uncomfortable for the other three, and as they were getting ready to leave I told them I’d be staying here. We all promised to write and keep in touch, but I could tell that it was a relief to everyone but Jesse.We took a bus to the airport, and I saw them off. Right back to the Haight I went wondering what would happen now.

I got off the bus about half a mile from Haight, about a quarter of the way in Golden Gate Park. I walked through a part called Hippie Hill. There was a drum circle going a I sat for a bit and listened.
It was amazing, there was at least thirty people sitting in a circle beating away at the oddest assortment of drums I had ever seen. I learned that they were there almost everyday. There was another landmark near Hippie Hill, that I was surprised about. See the bench in the drum circle, now look closely Yes that’s right same park.

I left the hill, and went further up the front of the park. As I was walking I noticed that there were camouflaged tarps, and tents set up in bushes and well off of the paved paths. As I came to the front of the park there were about two dozen people spread everywhere. On blankets, straddling bikes, leaning against walls. So may homeless teeming all over the city. I was ready to see what they saw

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Words of warning, the next few parts to this story can get a bit graphic. There will be high drug content and some unsavory actions by both myself and the people around me. If you have delicate sensibilities please do not read any further.


I found a choice spot by the front of the park. It was overlooking the corner of Fulton and Stanyan St. I opened up my bedroll blanket and stretched out, getting some cool sun on my legs. For anyone that hasn’t been to San Francisco, even in the summer it tends to be a bit chilly, but it was barely April. I had a sweater, tee-shirt and skirt on, and although the sun was on my legs I was feeling a chill. I sat there on my blanket for a while watching everything and everyone in my line of sight. Drinking it in. At that time I was clean from the morning’s shower and my clothes were as well. Basically an anomaly, I had the bag, and bedroll as everyone else did, but I was clean. I got quite a few stares and soon someone came up to me. He was a black man in his late 30’s early 40’s and he introduced himself as Ron Ron. He sat down and started to try and convince me to come back to his place, he claimed it was so I could put my bag up and have it not get stolen. I declined and he asked if I wanted to get high. Without waiting for my answer he said he woiuld be right back, and to wait for him. I just shook my head at his departing back and wondered what to make of that.

Soon after a man riding a bicycle, which is the main mode of transportation among the homeless in the park, slowed in front of me and asked if I wanted company. Kind of wanting a buffer for Ron Ron I said sure. His name was Yanni, but everyone called him Jack. He told me he was from Jerusalem and had been in the states from about 10 years now. I hadn’t been able to place the faint accent, and wouldn’t have recognized it if I wanted to. We sat and talked for a while and I found out that he was one of the many homeless in the city, and in fact he lived in his car on Fulton street not to far away. He made a brief reference to a job though, and told me that a lot of the people here that lived in the park had jobs, but rents were so high for just a one bedroom place a single man or woman could live cheaper out here. We talked for a bit more, and I saw Ron Ron coming back from a distance. Not wanting to spoil the afternoon, I started to excuse myself saying I was going to get something to eat. Jack said he knew of a great place on the Haight called Asqew Grill,
so I gathered my things and off we went.

We had lunch there and dawdled over our cheap Mexican food for as long as they would let us, and after we were finished jack wanted to show me where a safe place to camp for the night was. We walked back over by the park and along Fulton rd. Soon we came up on a path leading from the sidewalk into the park. We went up the path and into a picnic table area with a pavilion and a grill. There was a few people scattered around, some were possibly homeless, but they looked more like a crowd that followed the Greatful Dead, than a typical shopping cart pushing bag lady. Jack was greeted by most of them, and one of the girls flew out of the bunch and gave him a hug. Her name was Babs, and she was as bald as a cue ball, but very cute in a pixie like way. Jack asked her to show me where a good spot was, and she said she would. We all walked over to a large hedge that was about twelve feet around, and over 6 feet tall. Near the back was a small opening, and Babs led us though. The entire inside was hollowed out, and she had a futon mattress and a broke down table in there. I couldn’t believe it. Here I had always thought of homeless, as those blanket covered lumps on the stoops of closed shops, but this was something entirely different. We sat for a while, and Babs asked us to excuse her while she fixed.

Even after all that I had been through I was ignorant of her meaning until she pulled out a small baggie. She had a water bottle on hand and put a few drops inside. Then she grabbed a cigarette from a pack in her pocket and using her teeth ripped a small piece of cotton from the filter. She put that into the baggie was well and swirled it around with the orange capped tip of a needle.
Once some of the liquid started to suck into the filter she uncapped and placed the needle against it, sucking the liquid from the cotton until she was satisfied. She asked Jack to grip her upper arm, and he obliged like an old pro. Once she had a vein, she stuck it. I watched the red flag of blood, so dark it was almost purple, and time stopped for me again. I remembered the rush I had gotten the one time I had done it, and the blood rushed in my ears. When she was done, she said she had a bit more, and they both looked at me
 
I took a look around at the enclosed space, the mattress on the ground, and the streaks of dirt on her face in such clarity that everything seemed foreign. Monsterous almost. I took a deep breath to calm myself and the world settled back into place. I looked over at Jack and he had pulled a long glass tube with a bulb at the end out of his pocket. Babs tapped some of the crank into it and he lit the underneath burning it until the bowl filled with smoke. He put it to his lips and inhaled while pulling his finger off of the hole in the side of the pipe. After he had cleared it he handed to me. Figuring it wasn't as bad as usuing a needle, and not wanting to lose my place to sleep for the night I took it. I inhaled that awful tasting smoke into my lungs and gagged. God I had never tasted anything so rancid. I spit hard on the ground and handed Jack back the pipe. Both him and Babs were laughing and she asked me if I had ever done it before.
"Not smoked it." I replyed.
Then proceded to tell them all of it. Everything. The past month or so poured out of me, and while I talked they passed the pipe to me a few more times. I noticed after a while that the taste was just as awful, but I didn't mind it as much. I was considerably more animated and everything started to take on a different look.

It had gotten dark out by then and we all left Babs' camp and went walking. It seemed like I could see in the dark. Every trail and path was clear to me and even the rustlings in the bushes were more defined.
We stopped by the picnic area again, and the people there had changed. It was a rougher seeming croud. The tables were covered with beer cans and candles. It almost looked like a shooting gallery, at least what I imagined one to look like

A fight sarted to break out amoung to of the guys sitting there. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but it seemed vilent. Babs grabed my hand and squeezed and I looked over to see that she was as freaked out as I was, and wanted to get out of there. We bailed on to the nearest path with Jack right behind us. We walked on the sidewalk outside of the park for a while and soon came to his car. It was a beatdown red stationwagon that barely ran. Jack said it moved enough to change parking spaces every few days but not much more than that. The windows were tinted and we climbed into the back secure enough that no one would see us inside. The enire back was padded by blankets sleeping bags and pillows. A mishmash of shit made into a nest of sorts. We sat in there for a bit, and somked some more, and as we put it away babs leaned over to me and kissed me.

I had been kissed by a girl before. Hell I had even had a girlfriend for a time in highschool, but this I wasn't expectin. She could kiss though, and with the speed running through me there was nothing I wanted more than to kiss her back. We started undressing each other after a minute or two and I forgot all about Jack still being in the car with us. When we were naked and lying down, her underneath me and one of my legs between hers I felt him. He had his hand on her breast and the back of it brushed my nipple. Sensations shot through me and in onem big jumble there were hands and body parts everywhere. All three of us fucked for most of the night. And when dawn came I had passed out cold.

The next day when I wke up I could tell by the light that it was afternoon. I was still in Jack's car and so I pulled on my scattered clothes, located my bag and climbed out. No one else was in sight, so I decided to go for a walk. I went down to a laundrymat.

Even something as simple as that was different here. I did the dirty cloths I had, as well as what I had worn last night. In a fresh pair of jeans and a shirt I walked out and back in the direction of the car, just to see if they had come back. I didn't see them still so I went back into the park around the tables again. It was the same crowd as the day before, playing hackysack, and siting around bsing about whatever. A few of them had seen babs and pointed to her bushes. I went over and hollered to see if any one was in there. She called for me to come in and as I did I noticed there was another girl there. Her name was Laura.
 
Laura.

How should I describe Laura. She was the first "tweaker" I had the pleasure to meet. At first glance she looked like everyone else. Kinda raggity, but basically together. She smiled when I walked in and introduced herself. I noticed that she was in the middle of what looked like a craft project oddly enough. She was making friendship braclets. Remember those things made of the different color yarns all knotted together. I hadn't seen one since elementry school, so I thought that was kinda strange. When I asked she said she sold the on the street instead of panhandling like most every one else. I shrugged and talked to her and babs for a bit. Babs said after she woke up this morning we were still sleeping so she bail without waking us up. I was still welcome to stay there though until I found my own spot though.

After a while of chatting and watching I noticed something about Laura. She couldn't keep still. I don't mean shifting around trying to get comfortable either. Tis girl was up and down, figiting, picking up one bracelet, working on it, then putting it down. Soon though she wanted to go for a walk, and we all decided to go. Seeing her in the sunlight was a shock. Here was a girl, maybe a year or two older than me and she was ravaged. Pockmarked skin, horrible teeth, jittery eyes, I had no idea that this was from meth and thought she might have AIDS or something. We walked for a while and the girls wanted to show me something cool.

We walked off of the path for a bit until we came to a ring of stones, it was obviously a meeting place of some kind. Each one was small enought to sit on and there was the remains of a fire pit in the center.
"Look over there" Babs pointed.
I followed her finger and saw this alter made of stone about ten yards away from the stone circle. There were bits of dried fruit, wax, and flowers all over it. It was the coolest thing I had seen in the park yet. In the middle of nowhere it seemed, but obviously well used, and recently too. The girls mentioned something about a local coven using it for something, but again I was woefully ignorant in things like that.

There they stopped, and each of them took out a baggie and point and proceded to do their thing. This time when one of them offered I accepted, and for the second time in my life used a needle. We ran around together for the rest of the day having fun, at least that's how I remember it. It seemed like these girls knew everyone. We hopped on a bus and decided to go to the Castro. This was the central of Gay San Francisco. There was this fantastic mural on the corner of Noe.

There was a huge(7 stories maybe) flagpole and rainbow flag. It was like the statue of liberty for people looking for a tolerant attitude. It was actually installed to commemorate posthumously the election to the board of city supervisors of gay pioneer Harvey Milk, who had previously been a simple shopkeeper of a photo store in the neighborhood, and got himself elected from the Castro district as the first openly gay elected official in the country.

Again I was amazed at the diversity of this city. It was beautiful to me that so many different types of people could get along in a seemingly harmless and peaceful way. I did learn though that things aren't always what them seem.

It was getting dark when we got back and my buzz was starting to fade. Theirs were long gone and were prepping to do another hit. I declined and said I would meet up later confident that I would be able to find Babs camp again. I was ready for some exploring.


My first stop was to go back to Hippie hill. There was a small drum circle going on, but nothing like it was that first day. There were several people scattered all along the hill in groups and apart. Most sitting and talking, reading or just kicked back and relaxed. One guy though was sitting on a blanket surrounded by sticks. When I say sticks I don't mean small things either. These were the size of walking sticks. Four to Five feet long and a decent thickness. He had one in this hand and was wittling away onit. I allowed my curiousity to get the better of me and walked over to take a look. He was carving the most intricate and sinuous designs into the wood. Faces peared out at me, flowers blossomed. They were beautiful.

He introduced himself as Roy, and since Babs and Jack had christened me Ducky the night before, that's how I introduced myself.