The Story (cont.) Part IV

[create_destiny]

This is part IV of an on-going travel story. If you'd like to read this story from the beginning, scroll down to the entry dated April 30, read that and scroll up from there to follow the story.

After he lost his mind and "found God" it was too painful for me to speak his name so I began to refer to him as "Nutmeg Boy" or just "Nutmeg."

It took months, years even, to piece together the events that culminated in his disappearance. Even today, eleven years later, we don’t fully understand everything that happened, mainly, whether it was an allergic reaction to the nutmeg or some kind of mental breakdown or the gnarled finger of God.

But what we do know is this:

On January 10th, 1994, at 2:00pm, he mixed three heaping tablespoons of nutmeg in a glass of orange juice and choked it down, something he had read about nutmeg inducing an altered state of consciousness if consumed in large amounts.

That night I dreamt a gun salesman broke into my house while I was sleeping, only to demonstrate the need for his product. His sales pitch was so convincing I woke up wondering if I should get a gun.

This was only the beginning of the unravelling; a foreshock really, a minuscule premonition of things to come. He disappeared for three days, apparently wandering the city in a tortured, psychotic frame of mind until a woman looked out her window and saw a man kneeling in the snow in her front yard and called 911...

Comments

nutmeg! gak!

[robin-rule.livejournal.com]

yes, nutmeg creates heightened audio senses which is why charlie parker and others used it. when i heard that, i of course, considering jazz a religious experience, had to try it too when i was nineteen. however i only did one TBS in some hot milk. then you put on salt peanuts by the bird and rock. then you put on kinda blue and zone, then you put on love supreme and about half way there, you start having the first of every 20 minutes ANXIETY ATTACK. OHMYFUCKINGOD, i wanted to DIE. i learned to pray differently than acid ever taught me. i was a gonna DIE i was sure, but it wore off and i crossed off another 'natural' high from my experimental list. hot chocolate with a peanut butter, butter and honey sandwich rules! yes, i am the orginator of the PB&H sandwich and proud of it!

Nutmeg Boy

[joeyouknow.livejournal.com]

Was he alone when he downed the nutmeg? Why didn't you take any? It'a a good thing you didn't though.

[andeepants.livejournal.com]

I've heard thing about nutmeg as well...I have always found household highs very sketchy though and never try them. Things like whippits, robotusin, and nutmeg are things I'll never try.

who you claim to be

[robin-rule.livejournal.com]

i have to tell you chico boy, you have the coolest 'interests' list i have yet to see. i could not believe i was seeing anne lamott,earthfirst!, sherman alexie, getting published! AND sonic youth, who i have since outgrown, but nevertheless, all that and christianity too! man, no wonder leafy is yr friend. anyway, back to the story, i gotta find out what happened to ol' nutmeg...
ps i gotta update my own interests, but since leafy is nowhere near to tell me what to do or push the buttons FOR me, it'll take awhile. i had shy fingers the first time...

[dietcokehed.livejournal.com]

Hey, I remember that gun dream! I loved that dream. Not because it was frightening, but because it was so powerful and vivid. It's a good story, I've told it often :)

tease

[robin-rule.livejournal.com]

that's it? "i'll never forget" and "...or the events that followed..." you oughta be locked up. that's cruel and unusual punishment, that's, that's, and no popcorn neither?

learned subjects

[robin-rule.livejournal.com]

hey chico girl, you asked me the name of ten favorite books ASAP, are you crazy, who inthehell can decide ASAP without changing her mind a cazillion times which books are the best, but ok, i'll start with the shoo-ins: and finish another time.

1.Grapes of Wrath- John Stenbeck. best amreican book hands down.
2.Light In August-William Faulkner and the middle section of "Sound and fury". forget the idiot's voice. nice try willie, but put down the fuckin 'bottle next time you wanna try writin' and i don't want to hear from any faulkner phds EXPLAINING the importance and symbolism of those sections. they were written by an alkie about an idiot and i was raised by alkies and married at one point too, so i know what i'm talkin about.
3. alot of Jack Kerouac. I used to say 'everything', i used to be an 'expert' on him, i mean, like people would ask me a quastion about him and i always had the answer, but "i'm so much younger than that now" and i'm pickier,"on the road" is a mysoginist's book and i didn't like coming to that conclusion, even though there are beautifully written pieces in it. and i am quite sure that's where yr chico band railroad earth got their name there's a beautiful section in OTR referred to as the Railroad in the October Earth which is so good the tears stream down yr face into the ice cream bowl. (who doesn't eat ice cream when they are reading? except who those who live close to the end of the month like me, usually shot my wad by the 21st but the bills are paid. all of 'em.but enough bragging about poverty levels); my point is i am much more discerning about my kerouac now, though i can find whole sections and even whole books that are so good: " subterraneans." for example.

ok, thats it on the books for a few days, i get emotional about them. i have probably a thousand and had to put more than 900 into storage four years ago when we moved from the big cabin in the woods to the caboose in town. and part of this list will be poetry unless you want a SEPARATE poetry list? my husband, hence forth known as Dan or the Bear who does dishes everyday for 12 yearsand i have a small publishing house. we didpublish one trade paper of the best poetry by larry Beckett who is the lyricist for all those old Tim Buckley songs we all dug. ya know, jeff's late dad, the junky. (i get pissed off at junkies,especially successful junkies who OD. no excuse. shame shame.)but it broke us and now we are back to chapbooks and broadsidesand CDs of live poetry readings *never say spoken word* to me, i turn into that nasty teen girl in all black who smoked quite openly cigarettes and an occasional joint in the high school bathroom with a fuck you attitude, tho i was not that wild child in real life. we'ce found that CDs are cheaper and allow more POETRY to be heard. we are so snotty about who we think is good, which is why i think you might want a separate list. i KNOW i can wander like this because you have such a cool interest list and put that ASAP on the request.oh and a finally PS, i didn't work for jonathon Richman, I worked for his record producer, though i met JR once and thought him cool enough. i have about three of his tapes somewhere in storage or maybe four. i need a librarian. i used to be one when we lived in the big cabin in the woods, but somwething happened and i did help that Dan upon asking me to marry him didn't flinch when i said 'i don't do dishes', but he doesn't do books, so we're even... more on these enticing subjects later. and yes, i understand company can ruin an entire paragraph set up let alone a novel section.

notary

[robin-rule.livejournal.com]

let it be known that all typos and mispellings and grammereras are God's allowing me a form of humbleness i desperately need when it comes to lit.i am too vain-glorious for my own good. everytime i try to use check spelling or preview, i lose the entry andhave to play games withthe keyboard that involve white out, a dead chicken and putting on old doctor john lps. over and out.