Paul

Paul was classified mentally unfit for service during the Vietnam war. He wasn’t crazy, nor did he try to act crazy ..it’s just that LSD mimics the effects of psychosis. That action persists, even after the drug has left the system ..especially among frequent users. Fortunately, most of them know the difference, at least Paul did. There was a small celebration at his apartment (he’d been sweating his possible induction for weeks). After that, I lost track of him. Years later, while I was moving to Santa Barbara, I noticed a banana plantation growing on a hillside above highway 101. My puny brain told me that bananas don’t grow in the US. Then I learned that Paul had found a micro-climate where they did. With the help of a professor of wine-making at UC Davis, he started a business growing specialty bananas for high-end markets, as well as regular bananas for times when local supplies ran short. Not bad for a mentally unfit hippie. Actually, I did not make the connection between Paul and the plantation right away. I read about it in the paper the next day ..and saw a picture of him standing inside the plantation. Blew me away. I dropped by after surfing one day and met the professor’s daughter ..who told me that I had just missed Paul. She said that Paul sold his interest in the place a week before ..then disappeared. They couldn’t tell me wherehe went, but then they said ..well, that’s just like Paul now, isn’t it?