New Door Books
“You need something to open up a new door”
—Bob Dylan
  • Home
  • News
  • About
  • Books
  • Contact
  • Author Reading Series

Mr. Boardwalk Gets High

5/12/2014

0 Comments

 
In Chapter 9 of Mr. Boardwalk, Jason's friend Skip steals some weed from his older brother, and the two 14-year-olds get high for the first time. The year is 1974—a more innocent time than today?

"My dad won't get home until after midnight," I told Skip on the phone on Saturday afternoon when he called to tell me he'd scored the weed. I sat at the kitchen table twirling the phone cord. Skip was cagey on the phone; he didn't say "grass" or "pipe" or mention anything illegal. Instead he spoke in a secret code like the one he'd overheard his brothers using with their friends. "I have that thing," he said. "And we'll need another thing to do it with. If you guys have any tinfoil or something?"

"You mean tinfoil to make a pipe to smoke the weed in?" I asked.

"Jesus fucking Christ!" Skip said, his voice a harsh whisper. "Not over the phone, ass-wipe. You want to get me busted?"

"Skip, do you actually think your phone is tapped because you swiped a nickel bag of grass from your brother?"

"Shut the fuck up!"

"Okay, sorry," I said. "Come over at seven. We can order a pizza and, um, do that thing—and yes, I have some of that stuff we can make a thing with, so that we can you-know-what the other thing in the first thing." ...

At first nothing happened. But after about ten tokes each, it was as if a switch had been thrown. I was looking at the world through an amber-colored filter, like on stage at a talent show. The light in my room crackled silently; the air was charged. I felt the blood coursing in my veins, and my heart beating, and my lungs expanding and contracting.

"I'm high," I said.

"Me too," said Skip, looking around my bedroom like he'd discovered a new continent. "This is … fucking…"

"Am I talking too loud?" I asked. "Man, I want cantaloupe."

"That doesn't go together," said Skip.

I grinned. "Does too. Cantaloupe goes with everything. Ever hear anyone say, 'Hold the cantaloupe'?"

Suddenly we were laughing hysterically, crumpled on the floor. "You're too loud," Skip giggled. "Have some cantaloupe." ...

"This is amazing," I said, still unsure about my volume. Skip lay on his back on the bedroom floor, his eyes closed. "I mean, this is me," I said. "I am me. I am the inner me of me."


0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    About the Author
    Order at Amazon
    Find at IndieBound

    "A heartfelt bildungsroman, a story of a man coming to terms with his complicated youth, and a vivid novel of place" 
    — Joe Samuel Starnes

    "Mr. Boardwalk is easily the best book I have read in years.... Very, very highly recommended." —Sand Pilarski in The Piker Press
    "Mr. Boardwalk is a must read and brings back so many great memories. You’ll love it." —Jerry Blavat, "The Geator with the Heator"

    Archives

    June 2017
    March 2017
    November 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014

    RSS Feed

Picture
2115 Wallace Street
Philadelphia, PA 19130
USA

Picture