Paradise

Chapters one, two and 3

                         Paradise

Chapter One

      "I love my home", my lady said. "don't you just love my home?" "Why yes" i said. "it's very comfortable". Lady Lullaby and I were just in the middle of enjoying a freshly packed bowl of some of the islands finest available herbs, grown by the most adored couple on the island. Us :) well maybe not the most adored but you get the point.
        We must have been stoned all day. But for us it was just like any other day. "whatever shall we do on such a beautiful day"? she said. I've always loved the way she spoke. Her voice was like music to my hears. Her soft, sweet, harmonious voice always seemed to sooth my soul. every sentence spoken with such a a pleasant laid back easy tone. It must be one of the reasons i love her so much.
         hmmm, what to do, i thought. And just as I finished off the old corncob pipe i remembered a party was a bout to take place. Shouldn't be long from now. and i guess when was thinking the same thing. "oh yeah" she said. "There's a party down at the sticks. shouldn't be long from now". "so.. shall we walk down there?" i said. "Sure, why not".
         As i stood up off the log I've been sitting on for the past hour, i began to feel lightheaded. So I sat back down for a minute, stood up, (my lady laughed) and we were on our way.

              I always loved the sticks. So full of excitement, and love. Such a wonderful vibe every time we went. It must of been a good 3 days since the last event. The sticks was nothing more than a small area of land surrounded by trees. We had a little fire pit. It was where all the local village people gathered around the fire for a fun interesting night of conversation, dancing... just coming together as a community and share what we had. We would eat sassafras, a sacred root that would sort of help us understand each-other and communicate on a deeper, more intellectual yet basic level. It also provided us with tons of energy. So much that you could dance for hours on end and literally feel the music. We would make it our goal to differentiate the good from the bad energy and use the powers given to us by the sacred plants on the island only for good. to help better ourselves both mentally and physically and help our community for we are just as much a part of everything as everyone else.
            On the island there were no drugs, just plants. Plants for medical benefits and recreational as well as spiritual advantages. And the ones who abused it would eventually suffer the consequences and hopefully learn from there mistakes and try to help the rest of their generation to not do the same.
                The lady and I were most famous for our ganja. We grew, and harvested some of the best cannabis on the island. People would come to us and trade whatever it may be. Food, wood, musical instruments, all the basic necessity and we would give them buds from our plants. There were no scales, no money. Just look with your eyes. If you don't think it's a fair deal.. (which me always made sure it was) than so be it. There was no arguing and barley ever a fight. And when there was a fight on the island, the peacekeepers would soon put an end to it or either let them fight as long as noone got seriously hurt.. But we all knew, violence is sometimes only natural, yet, unnecessary and will never be completely stopped, but in time, we must learn to prevent it, threw love.

       We were one of the first people to arrive at the sticks. AS we walked threw we saw a few people, probably in there late teens or early 20's eating sass and smoking pot. The peacekeepers sat by the stage also puffing away at the ganja. We mingled with a few locals as they talked about the band. I never heard of this band till now. They were called Back-wood Drift and s**t, they were pretty good.
     "would you like to dance?" my lady asked. "yes my love" i said. and so we did. We danced for hours. high on only the good vibes that kept us moving all day long. As it got dark, we noticed Delila and Jerry sitting beside the fire. So we sat down next to them. I stretched out and threw my jacket on. "hi guys" my lady said. "hey" said Delila. "watsup?" Jerry asked with a tone of such interest in his voice. his pupils were huge. I could tell right away that weren't just eating the sass by the way they just sat there in such deep thought. Eyes full of wonder, fear, happiness all at once. I figured they've even some of there mushrooms.
       Delila and Jerry were the mushroom pickers of the village. Just like us, they would trade their freshly picked and dried psychedelic or even plain edible mushrooms for whatever they needed. Delila seemed spun. Off in her own world. Jerry and I sad an talked about how wonderful life is here on the island as Lady lullaby lit up a freshly packed bowl for all of us to share.
        As the sun set and the band stopped playing, people stopped dancing and for a short while we all gathered around the fire to cook, to smoke, and to convorsate. "did you hear about that kid?" Somebody said. "what kid" my lady asked. "The kid who went crazy and ran away. Peacekeepers went to find him but so far nobody has". "oh yeah" somebody else said. "i think his name was Ricky or something. "yeah that's him" the other voice said. "Apparently he was smoking DMT and lost his sense of reality. He took off all his cloths, ate some sass and than just ran off into the woods".
        I wasn't surprised to hear about this kid going nuts. Happens to a lot of people who don't know their limits. Or who are just learning. I've never smoked DMT before. Although my lady loves it. The dream molecule they called it. It provided people who smoked it with an overwhelmingly vivid, experience. They claimed they could understand the universe. Understand de-ja-vu.. and so forth. Lady Lullaby loved to smoke it. But I've always been afraid I'd turn out like.. well.. Ricky.
        "I hope hes OK" said Delila. We all nodded our heads in agreement. It was getting late and before i decided to head out, another band had just started playing and my lady gave me that "i wanna dance" look. I gave her that "I'm tired" look. but how could i resist that smile. I couldn't turn down a girl so beautiful. So i took her hand and led her to the dance floor. The band was playing a lot of blues tunes also some bluegrass. A good way to end the night.When the last song was over, Lady Lullaby, still full of energy, decided to take off with Delila. apparently Delila was still tripping and needed someone to convorsate with. Jerry and i headed back to my cabin in hopes of started a fire with the last of our wood.

          As we walked towards my house, I quickly noticed someon dressed in black, darting away from y house with what looked like a bag of my plants. Not sure what to do. I've never gotten anything stolen from me before. Jerry and i chased after him. "come back here m**********r!" luckily the man in black was too slow for me. I tackled him to the ground and Jerry grabbed the bag. "Hey man, what's your issue" i said. pissed off and extremely curious of why anyone would steal anything when all that need is provided for us. "s**t man, if you needed some herbs i could of traded you for something". "I'm sorry" he kept saying over and over. His eyes so full of fear. So surprised i was to see someone so afraid of me and Jerry. We were only 140lbs each. both innocent, well respected people. Definitely not fighters. Well at least i wasn't.
           Oh S**t! I thought as Jerry punched the dude in the face. Knocked him out. I kind of felt bad for him.After that we headed down to the river to tell the peacekeepers what happened. Not sure how they'd respond to Jerry knocking the dude out.
          "where is he" one of the peacekeepers responded. "well he's layed down there flat on the ground right where we left him" said Jerry sounding so proud of himself. "well i'll have a word with him" said the peacekeeper. "maybe he'll think twice before stealing again". "Yeah" i said, "and what if we catch him again". "well, hopefully he'll realize his wrong doing when karma bites him the a*s." the man said. "you guys just worry about you"

           After the peacekeeper had had a word with the man in black who was also known as Stagger Lee, we gave him a few buds from our plant, smoked a joint with him and waited for the chicks to return. About an hour or so later they did. "why hello peacekeeper" My lady said. "hello mam, you can call me Dan". Delila giggled at the rhyme peacekeeper Dan made. And as i took the last hit of the joint, the peacekeeper was on his way out as well as Jerry and Delila.
            Lady lullaby and I cuddled and talked for a few moments before we fell asleep. I told her all about Stagger Lee and she was very surprised. "what reason does anyone have to steal"? she asked herself as i laid there returning her question with a look that described the confusment we both shared.

          It was morning before it even seemed like we shut our eyes and when i awoke, my lady was outside making trades. We had piles of firewood stacked also enough food to keep us full for a day. "good morning my darling" she said. I smiled and sat beside her. We smoked a bowl and prepared our minds for the day to come.

                                         Chapter 2

   "They found him!" a voice called out. it was that girl from the sticks we met last night. the one who was telling us all about that kid that god lost. "The did?" my lady said. "yeah" said the girl. "They found Ricky, he was sleeping under a tree in the woods. me and my friend found him while we were hiking. we woke him up and he was telling us about... how he's been lost and like, didn't know where he was". "So, what did you do?" i asked. She told me about how she took him with her and fed him breakfast. what i nice girl i thought. "yeah, he's at my house now" she said. "when i left, he was just sitting there. he doesn't speak much but he seems like a nice boy."
          I noticed a kid in the distance walking toward us. he was dressed in bright colors and he had long hair. he look like he just stumbled out of the 60's and was just hit by a title wave of acid. He looked lost. "so, what is your name?" My lady asked the girl. "oh, I'm sorry" she said. "I'm Jane". Jane noticed the boy to. "Ricky!" she yelled out at him. He walked toward us. such a blank look on his face. He just stood there, so i offered him a smoke. "sure man" he said. as he slowly took the corn cob pipe from my hand. He sat down, took a hit, held it in, let it out, looked around and then stood back up. He handed me my pipe and then he left. Didn't even say a word. We all looked at him in confusment as he walked away looking unsure of where he was and where he was going.
         "Wow" said lady lulluby. "he looks spun". "Yeah i think he's just like that. He says he hasn't taken anything in the past couple of days" said Jane. "damn", my lady said. "How much of that s**t did he smoke?" "Apparently, more than enough" Jane said as we all laughed. But what a sad thing to laugh about.
          We decided to go fishing but the Lady Lullaby felt like drinking. so we stopped at this place. Jane said she knew this guy who made an excellent brew. Although he didn't need any herbs so we gave him our word that we'd bring him some fish. That is, if we even catch any.
           "I like it, its sweet" said the lady. I sat down on a rock and took a big swig. damn that s***s good i thought. Tasty brew" I said as i smiled and tried to play it off like this s**t didn't burn. Jane looked at me and smiled. We drank all day. still didn't catch s**t. "What do we tell the old man?" I asked Jane. "oh, it's no big deal" she said. "He aint stupid, he knows we might not catch nothing but he's a nice guy you know?" And just as she said that i go ta bit. it was a b***h wheeling in but i managed to keep it on the line. "nice" my lady said. "now we can eat". but what good is one fish? i thought. "I'll bring this to the old man, you guys stay and fish".

           On my way to the old mans house i saw Ricky sitting under a tree with stagger lee. Stagger lee caught my eye and quickly looked away. and so did Ricky. although he didn't look away. "nice fish" said lee as i walked past him. What do u wanna steal that too? i though to myself. but i kept walking. "Hey man" stagger lee called out. "im sorry bout what i did. I wasn't in the right frame of mind" hmmm, i thought. surprised he was apologizing rather than wanting to kill me for what Jerry did to him. "hey dont worry about it" i said as i kept walking showing no real sympathy regarding his apology.
            As i arrived at the old man's house I noticed a beautiful girl looking in my direction. She smiled. I smiled back. She kept walking. The old man spotted me. "ohh what a nice dinner you brought me" he said with a huge smile on his face. "thank you thank you. My daughter and i can slip it." "your daughter?" i asked. "yes" he said. "My daughter. you just walked past her." "The redhead?" i asked as if i didn't see her. "yes the red head. nice girl she is Always stays our of trouble. Just hangs out with the wrong crowd. "hmm, would you like to smoke"? i said. But he was all set. He headed inside to prepare his mean and i walked back hoping that maybe the girls caught something.
           As i walked passed Stagger Lee and Ricky again. all i could smell was DMT. I've never smoked it but I i do know the smell. They were sitting with that girl.the red head. "hello" she said. I said hello back and continued walking. "would you like to smoke?" she asked. they all looked at me in hopes that i would sit down with them. "Maybe later" i said. and i was on my way.
           Before i arrived back at the spot, i tripped over a bucket of fish. Big fish. Some small. "watch out" my lady said. well it looks like we aint gonna go hungry tonight, i thought. And then my girl gave me the biggest hug. "wheres Jane?"i wondered. "oh, she took off to get wood or something, she has nowhere to go and i told her she could stay with us for the night. Hope you don't mind". "oh" i said. I smiled and looked at her to assure her that it was OK.
             As it got dark we headed back to the house. "you smell that" my lady said. Oh no, i thought. I was hoping she wouldn't get the urge to go smoke DMT with those kids. "hey, inst hat Stagger Lee with Ricky? "yeah that's weird, i said. Lady lullaby then yelled out, "you're gonna fry your brain!" she said, jokingly, looking at Ricky. "f**k you" Ricky said. Not joking. Here we go, i thought. My lady went over there to him (of course)and started yelling. "I was only f*****g with you, you f**k" she said. Ricky put his head down. "give me that" my lady said as she grabbed the pipe from his hands. She took a huge rip, quickly handed the pipe back and then she sat down Indian style as she blew out the smoke. "Hey, whats wrong with your girl" said stagger. "IDK" i said. "she can be a b***h if you piss her off". he said nothing more. I hate sharing these awkward silent moments with people.
I looked at Lady Lullaby. So beautiful, so content, with her legs crossed. Such a gorgous smile. She stood up. Stretched out and looked at me. I could tell she wanted to leave so we did. And as we left the redhead girl would not stop smiling at me. So i smiled back at her. "I'm sharise by the way" she said to me softly. i looked at her confused. She jsut smiled. and we kept walking.
           "Hey you" the old man called out to us as we passed his house. "who me?" I said. Even though he couldnt have been talking about anyone else. "yeah you" he says. "Have you seen my daughter?". I told him i had just seen her a little up the road. "Oh, so you brought me more fish" he said, joking of course. Or maybe not. "Let's fry em up" he said. my lady gave me that look like, "why not" and the old man just helpped himself to the fish.
           He started talking about his daughter. "You know, I worry about that girl so much. She says she'll come home for dinner but never shows. She runs around with them boys all night. And i swear shes smoking that ganja. I make beer". He said. "She's always welcome to have a few drinks with me but when it comes to that marijuana, I tell her to stay away from it." Wow, I thought. This man dosn't know much about his daughter. "And alcohol is so much better" said my lady, so sarcastically. Why? i wonderd. Why can't she jsut let this man be happy in his own close minded little world. But no. She had to open her mouth. "Oh yeah right" said the old man. "That's the devils grass you've all been smoking". He said sounding so sure of himself.
            I mean.. I never thought of the herb as being bad for you. I never got sick from it. Never to high to not know what i was doing. And unlike alcohol it did not cloud my judgement. In my opinion, it was safe. And how? I wondered. How could an hold man who's been on the island for so long be so immune to the truth. But then I thought about it some more. I don't recall ever seeing this man until now. Maybe he's from the east.
             "would you like a beer" he asked me. "sure" I said. "why not". As the fish was cooking, the old man continued talking. "That girl of mine" he says. "She was always so well behaved but now its' like I barley even know her. Ever sence we moved here, i never see her." I wanted to tell him the truth, that marijuana is not at fault here. I mean she' s been smoking the most powerful hallucinogen known on this island as DMT. But i couldn't say a word. It was no business of mine.
            "If you don't mind me asking" i said to the old man. "Where are you from? The old man looked at me. "I'm from the east" he said. "I moved here about two weeks ago. People are a lot nicer up here." he said. The reasons why were obvious, but obviously not to him. "yeah, I've been to the east" I tole him. "A lot of drunken idiots, police who don't give a f**k about their civilians. Almost like a war going on. "Yes, that may be true" said the old man. "but, we're not all bad". "Yes I'm sure you're not all bad." i said. laughing in my head because, i knew this man would not have an easy time adapting to our culture.
   Most people born in the east stay in the east for many reasons. They get so comfortable with their easy lives. They don't know what to do without their money, without just being able to go somewhere and purchase food. Here they have to communicate, be a part of the community. Which isn't hard to do seeing how we're mostly all nice people. :)
          Lady Lullaby and I ate our meal and the old man drank his beer and continued talking about his daughter. But we were pretty buzzed. So we didn't mind too much. "what do you think got into that girl?" he said. But i said nothing. "you know, there's no order around here. Maybe she thinks she can just get away with everything." No order? i thought. There was indeed order. But there was no need for the kind of "order" he was talking about. For there is a natural order out here. Even a greater deal of respect for each other. There was no need for jails, police, there was hardly any crime.
           the old man sat quietly and ate our fish. We stood up to leave just as sherise was on her way in. "Where have you been"? said the old man. drunk. furious. "Out" said sherish. Man was she fucked up. I thought. She looked at me and smiled. "Hello Billy" I said hello back. And my lady gave me a suspicious look. (it's not my fault shes constantly flirting with me). "Well we have to head home" my lady said. "well have a nice night" said Sherish. The old man waved goodbye and they continued their argument.
           On our way home we noticed how beautiful the sky looked and we decided to lay down and watch the stars together. I pounded down the last of my beer as we walked back to get my jacket and some herb. Lady lullaby and I talked for at least an hour as we gazed up at the stars wrapped up in each-others arms. "I love you" she said. shes so pretty i thought as i kissed her on the cheek. She smiled. "I love you more" i said. "no way, not possible" she said as i looked at her and shrugged my shoulders. She squeezed me tight and lied her head on my chest as I looked up at the sky.
       My mind full of wonder. What else is out there? I thought, beyond this planet we call our home. How is it that the east has resorted to such a negative vibe. So much violence. So much hate from all sides. Police priding themselves on crontrolling the so calel balance of good and bad. Here it was simpler and i was so grateful for that. And so was my Lady.

       Chapter 3

I woke up this morning to these 3 kids banging on my door. "Wake up" Stagger Lee was yelling. My lady answered the door. "we need herbs" said Ricky. This early? I thought. These kids probably didn't even sleep yet. He offered to trade us some seeds from the morning glory plant. Who has those? I wondered. He offered to give us two doses worth for two small nuggets. So we did the trade. "well today should be interesting" I said softly. We ingested all the seeds. chewing them up and then chasing it with water. Not bad, but after the third handful or so it started to taste like s**t. We never ate morning glory seeds specifically but we are familiar with the psychoactive chemical LSA that was in them. We knew what to expect and we knew it was worth it.
      As we were ingesting the seeds, stagger Lee packed my corncob pipe with some of my homegrown "super island sticky". (one of our favorite plants) Out of the corner of my eye i could notice sharish looking at me, as if she wanted to f**k me or something. What is this girl trying to pull? i wondered.
       We passed around the pipe. Sharise told us she had been tripping all day. Apparently they ate the seeds and then smoked DMT all day and night. But what need to you have to trip so hard? i wondered. S**t, that would leave me either confused or stuck in some kind of bad or weird trip. I, myself loved taking a trip threw the levels of consciousness, going threw the infinite doors of perception. But my brain could only handle so much. But all in all. I guess it just depends on the environment and your mind set of course.

         7:00am - I began to feel a bit of euphoria. colors were brighter. Lady Lullaby and i could not stop laughing at sherise who kept making funny faces. I had no desire to do anything but sit in one place and laugh. Although after a few minutes, we decided to stand up and stretch. Oh how good it felt to be alive, I thought, just as my lady reached out to give me the biggest hug ever.

        7:30am - I was just starting to realize a more enhanced sense of everyones energy and I started to feel a little weird about hanging out with these kids. I mean, for one: I just caught Stagger Lee stealing from me not too long ago. And sharish was trying to flirt with me right in front of my girlfriend. I looked over at Ricky and by the look he gave me I could tell he knew something. He could sense the uneasy vibes I was getting. He looked me in the eye with what seemed to me like an evil smile. He knew I wanted them all to leave. But should I play his game. Who could control who's vibes. I could get inside his head and control his every emotion if I wanted to at this point. But then what kind of person would I be. But before anyone said a word. Ricky looked over at his friends and directed them to leave.
         As i looked up at the ceiling in amazement. I started to notice the geometric patterns moving all in the same parrellel motion but going nowhere. All the detail. It was as if my ceiling was just one big psychedelic painting, dissapearing and repainting itself with beautiful shades of light green and violet. Hypnotized by everything around me, I looked over at Lady Lullaby. Her face full of detail, I could see her every pour on her face yet she was more beautiful than ever. I could sense her every vibration. We gazed into each others eyes. It was then when i noticed the overwhelmingly similar aspects all human beings shared. And that, in a bigger perspective we were all one. For we all had positive and negative qualities that all seemed to even out. All of us the same yet all different. As if we all would add up to one perfect human being. One single energy. One universal consciousness.

             8:30am - My third eye was fully opened and so was Lady Lullaby's. Both our minds metaphysically enhanced and able to see threw almost anything. point out the illusion and make peace with our understandings of the world. "we need music" Lady lullaby said. "Go get your drum".I told her. As she did that, I tried to pack a bowl. I looked at my buds and saw nothing more than a plant similar to all the other plants around us. What was so special about this one? I thought. I could sense it's energy. It's life. and as I lit the pipe and took a small hit, I could feel Maryjane relaxing my every nerve. I could sense every individual change it was making in my body although I still felt completely sober. I felt like myself.
            My lady took a hit from the pipe and iI grabbed the drum from her and started playing it. She closed her eyes. I could how the music controlled her every emotion, her every movement. So I picked up the pace. She smiled even more. her eyes lit up. I could feel her energy coming together with mine and what amazing vibes. Lady Lullaby was in her own world. Athough i was there too. I tried to play with the energy. I felt up on her vibes enough to know what would really increase her energy. I fucked with the beat just the way she happened to like it. She looked at me as if she was having an orgasm. And then, I changed the beat again. Playin a more steady repetitive tune. "oh my god" she said with ah uge smile on her face as she hit the pipe. I stopped playin and we made a trade,

            9:00am - I could feel the effects becoming more intense. As Lady Lullaby played the drum, all the colors around me started to melt. And for a second, I felt drained. Drained of my soul. all my emotion. As she kept playing, the room then brightened up. I felt so alive. And the patterns were everywhere. The air, all around me was almost like it was split up into layers. each layer being a different geometrical pattern of a different color, fading and coming back over and over. Faster and faster. Reality was diminished.I saw nothing but patterns. I felt nothing but color. I could taste the blues, the green, the red. And then all of a sudden everything stood still. Just as she had stopped playing. Then, she took a deep breath, held it in and then slowly let it out as she stretched (and with such a delightful smile)
            I picked her up, spun us around in circles and then threw her on the bed. She then flipped me over and started kissing my neck.
And then my chest. Then my stomach,. and so froth. We made love for hours. By time we had finished, we were still gone. We then wondered if they did this in the east. (I meant, tripping) of course they made love in the east. Or at least just fucked. And if they did trip, was it even enjoyable? was it not a trip filled with paranoia about the police or anything else for that matter. did it not bring good vibes? I mean , I've been to the east, sober. But still, the vibes I was getting were not good. So much confusion, hate, rebellion that went nowhere.
             "Did you hear that?" said my Lady. I heard nothing. She's spun i thought. But then, suddenly I heard something. "Music"! I yelled. So exited. "you wanna check it out" she asked me. "Of course" I said. And we were on our way. "It must be at the sticks" she said. And it was. "Jane"! my lady yelled as she ran towards her friend to giver her a hug. I stood there. The music crept up my spine and left me with no control over myself. I had no choice but to dance. So I did. As I danced,I noticed everyone doing the same. Lady Lullaby and I weren't the only ones who sensed the energy. Such good vibes. We all danced different. We were all individuals, yet we all shared the same energy. The band controlled our every movement and the ones who were really into it, their every emotion.
             We danced for hours yet it only felt like a few minutes have gone by. "Wohh man, your pupils are huge" a voice said. I turned around. It was Jerry. "you haven't tried my mushrooms have you?" "No" I said. I told him about how the Lady and I were high on morning glory seeds. He stated to tell me about his experience with them as I fallowed him to the fire pit. Lady Lullaby and Jane were sitting there as well. Playing Jane's drum.
I couldn't pay attention to what Jeryy was talking about. I just started out into space. And then, all of a sudden. "Holly s**t!" someone yelled as a girl tripped and fell almost directly in the fire pit. "Sharise!" I yelled. I jumped up to help her but luckily someone else already did. "what happened" she said. her face all burned and scraped. Covered in dirt. It wasn't bad though. Could be worse. "where am I?" She said. Oh no. I thought. I knew this would happen. She hangs out with Ricky and now shes fallowing in his footsteps. and of course her father will blame the herb. "Billy"! she said as she saw me looking at her. She ran towards me almost falling again. "you OK?" i asked. "Ha?" she said looking really confused. "I don't know where I.. aa-mm" she mumbled. As if she was forgetting how to speak and put together a full sentence. "You should go home" My lady said. "ha?" she said. "I'm... home?" as she dropped her glass pip leaving it shattered all over the ground. She didn't even realize she had dropped it.
           She then sat down, burried her head in her nads and cried. Jane touched her shoulder. Sharish looked up at us and we all smiled which then made her smile. She stood back up. confident, realizing where she was. She then randomly started dancing the beat of the drum that Delila was now playing.And then she tripped again. Fell flat on her face and her smile was gone as her face filled with confusment and sadness. She looked like a lost little puppy dog. "Someone should take her home" I said as Lady Lullaby helped her off the ground. I looked over and saw Stagger Lee and Ricky sitting under a tree just laughing. Do they not have souls? I thought. No sympathy for this girl who apparently could not handle her drugs whatever she was on. In the distance i could see her father walking towards us. His face so full of worry and confusion. Someone mush have contacted him already I thought.
            "Sharish!" he yelled. She looked at him as if she did not know who he was. And I'd be surprised if she did, being in the state of mind she was in. He continued to yell at her but she jsut sat there staring out into space. He grabbed her hand to bring her home. In the idstance, i noticed Pecekeeper Dan watching, survailing hte situation. He knew just as well as I did, those kids were no good. But Sherish. I always thought she was a nice girl. Just too bad she had to learn things the hard way. Me, on the other hand. I learn quick. from observing other people and learning from their mistakes. "thank god we don' live in the east" said Lady Lullaby. All those kids would be in jail. And Sherish would probably end up in a crazy home" I said. Jerry and delila both laughed.
               It wasn't long before I noticed Sherish's old man walking back towards the fire pit. He must of wanted to know what exactly happened. He walked on over to Ricky and Stagger Lee. "What have you done to my daughter!" he said sounding furious. Stagger Lee stood up. "Excuse me old man"? he said. as the peacekeepers were eying him. "Not my fault your daughter cant hang" stagger said. The peacekeeper stepped in. "Alright" he said. "That's enough". And just as he said that. Stagger punched him right in the nose. Left him bleeding all over the ground. Another peacekeeper stepped in and knocked Stagger Lee to the ground. "You see" said the old man. "This is the problem with you westerners, there's no order". These kids should be thrown in jail!" everyone looked at the old man. I'm sure some of us wanted to lay him out right there. but we knew it would do no good. "He" said the peacekeeper. "If you don't like it here, than go back to the east." And then he turned to Stagger Lee. "and one more incident with you" he said, "you'll be heading the same direction. "Of course, let him off easy" the old man said. Even though Stagger had got what he deserved. And he would sooner or later, hopefully learn a lesson. But that was no business of the old man. Although his concern for his daughter was understandable. The old man just simply didn't understand the mind set of those in the west.
          It was then when i thought. Maybe we couls omehow change their perspectives what if we went to the east? Maybe we could brighten things up. I talked about it with Jerry and Delila, Jane and my lady. We all discussed it and decided there wasn't much hope. But why not take a chance. What's the worst that could happen. S**t, I could sell some ganja out there. Buy something nice to bring home.
             They searched you on the way out. But never the way in. The reasons why were obvious. the westerners wanted nothing to do with the hard drugs or the weapons or even the food the east provided. But the east, they couldn't give a f**k less what we brought there. If we were caught, they could banish us from the island, throw us in jail. But we were smart. and the easterners were also smart. IN a since. Why would we bring anything there when here its all legal? It made no sense. So they didn't even bother. The laws out there were different.
- No drugs, besides nicotine, and what your doctor prescribed. Alcohol was legal. Although there were a lot of narcotics. things like cocaine, heroin, crack, dust, ecstasy, and all the above. All of them ill eagle but yet the east was flooded in drugs. It's hard to figure out where they all come from being such a small yet overpopulated community. The other laws included:

-no fighting, or else you'll get arrested. Obviously you can't kill anyone either.
But I'm sure you understand the concept now. Their laws were somewat similar to ours ina way but the consiquences were way more drastic. Made no sence.
       The east was overpopluated. If people couldn't make it here, they were sent there and if they couldn't make it in the east they were sent to prison on another island. School costed money. you had no choice but to work and pay for things that should be free in the first place. Water osted money even though it was everywhere. Enough for everyone. (I was always told not to drink the water out there)

           In the west the ruled were simple:

-No stealing.
-no fighting
-Respect one another.

"So what's the plan exactly" said Jerry. "well, I said. "We go out there, sell some weed. $5 a gram is cheap out there. $50 and ounce. Shop around, wear colorful cloths and be nice to everyone. Maybe even give away some free buds. "think I should bring those mushrooms?" said Jerry. "think the easterners could handle the experience?" ii said. He laughed. "Probably not" said Jerry. "OK" i said. "So it's settled. We'll leave tomorrow, around noon"