The Lake
I don’t remember much of the order in which events happened to me between the ages of 14 and 18. I spent most of those years in an LSD / Pot induced haze – Free love. Free drugs. Free everything mode. But, the night on the lake will remain with me forever.
It was a wonderful lake. Manmade. A good football field wide and at least twenty foot deep in the center. It sat in the middle of a small patch of woods and best of all, it was totally private since it was on Darlene’s, grandmother’s property.
My entire memory of the event is hazy since I spent most of it ‘tripping’ on LSD and smoking pot, but here’s what I do remember.
Early in the day we picked up two hitchhikers. A male and a female, both in their late teens. We must have invited them up to the lake, because the next thing I remember was it was getting dark and all of us were sitting on the dirt ‘beach’ of the lake, finishing eating our fire roasted hotdogs.
Ever seen the opening beach scene of jaws? That was us. Exactly. Just substitute a lake for the ocean.
Someone started playing a guitar, and the LSD we had taken earlier, began working its magic. We watched the colors, chatted and laughed. There was a lot of laughing.
Then, Darlene stood up, shrugged off her clothes and ran, giggling into the cool water of the lake. A handful of others, followed her lead. I stayed dressed, not being much for nudity with my chunky little body.
Lisa, the girl we had picked up hitchhiking, also shrugged off her clothes, took a quick dip in the lake, then giggling, she danced around the lakeside. Her long straight, blonde wet hair, plastered to her perfect body.
She would disappear, dancing into the woods at one spot, then would reappear as she danced out at another. Giggling.
I took turns watching her dance – trying to figure out where she would reappear next- and watching the rest of the people frolicking in the lake.
When you are on LSD, your mind has a tendency to wander. Its very hard to concentrate on a single thing / thought for more than a brief time, before drifting off onto something else. Add that to the wonderful kaleidoscope of geometric colors which swirl and continuously change shape around you and its almost impossible to stay reality based.
I lost track of everything. Time. The dancer. The frolickers.
The next thing I remember was the sun rising and the drugs starting to wear off.
Naked and clothed people, in various mental states, were scattered all around me; some sleeping, some in deep thought, some sitting and chatting … one missing.
“Where’s Lisa?” Her hitchhiking buddy asked.
“Last time I saw her, she was dancing over there in the trees,” I said.
Someone else pointed to an unoccupied blanket. “There’s her clothes. She can’t be far.”
People giggled.
Her buddy frowned. “I’m serious,” he said. “Where is she?” Then he started yelling for her. “Lisa?!” Soon, we all were calling her name, and scouring the small patch of woods.
We searched the entire property, several times, all the way to the road but came up empty handed.
No Lisa.
We offered our consolations to the hitchhiker and he just shrugged. It turned out he had only met her the day before, on the road, and they had only joined together for the company.
No big loss for him. He barely knew her.
We all split up, to head out our separate ways. Someone offered the hitchhiker a ride to the interstate, so he could continue on with his journey.
Darlene suggested we leave Lisa’s clothes by the lake. Just in case she came back for them.
We did.
She didn’t.
I had problems leaving her eternally lost in my head, like that so I fashioned my own ending.
Giggling, Lisa danced in and out of the woods, going a bit further into them with each loop. Between the LSD and her being so ‘into’ her dancing, she lost track of where she was in relation to us. Or maybe just forgot that we existed. She continued her dance to the main road, and some kind soul picked her up, clothed her and sent her on her carefree way.
It works for me. It has to.
I can’t bring myself to think anything else.
Bone Digger