The Cavalier daily :: Tuesday, March 13, 1973 :: University of Virginia Library

The door swung open and a
bald-headed girl peeked in.
"Hey! I never knew about this
place. Ruby, Alex, Tom,
Mabel, you gotts see this
room." To me she confided,
"We just had to get away from
that lecture." I silently cursed.

Ruby, Alex, Tom, Mabel
and she came in and looked
around. We all learned each
other's names, years in school,
majors, and the rest of it. They
sat on the floor.

"Ern," Tom said as I
prepared to light the second
bowl, "we got some wine."

Roxanne and I looked at
each other. "Wine?" I said.

"Almaden Pinot Noir," said
Ruby, pulling a bottle from her
coat. "Five Star," said Alex,
pulling out another bottle.
"Chateau Lafitte," said Tom,
producing another. "Pagan
Pink," said Mabel, setting her
bewitching fifth on the table. I
put down the pipe.

The bottle of Almaden was
uncorked and passed around.
"My God, that's good," said
Roxanne. "How come only old
people drink it?"

"It's a cheap high,"
someone said I was beginning
to think socialism wasn't so
bad after all

"Can you make the wall
change color on it?" asked
Roxanne.

"No, it's not that kind of
high. Sort of mellow. And if
you drink a lot you throw up."

"Throw up?" said
Roxanne, wrinkling her nose.
"I threw up on peyote once.
Ugly."

"The frats used to have
parties where this was all you
could get," I threw in.

"No, that was beer," said
Tom.

"I used to be fiery for
gin," said Alex, "but I never
thought of wine till Mabel
brought it up tonight. Give me
the Chateau stuff" The cork
flew across the room and
ricocheted from the opposite
wall, Two guys were talking
French in a corner.

Roxanne drank some of the
Pagan Pink. "We should start a
secret society," she
proclaimed, trying to stand up
on her chair and knocking her
head against the ceiling. "The
U.Va. Winers." My head was
swaying.

"Yeah," said Ruby,
exhaling a cloud of cigarette
smoke, "and we could hold all
our meetings up here and drink
wine. Where'd the candles
come from?"

"I brought them the last
time I was here," I said.

"Ernie," said Roxanne,
lighting up one of my Camels,
"I'm so glad you know about
this place."

I leaned back and watched
the shadows flickering on the
wall. "Roxanne, does this
stuff do the same thing to me
as it does to you? I mean," I
said slowly, because it was
getting hard to pronounce all
the consonants, "my passion's
gone nova."

She looked at me. "Yeah,"
she said softly. My head was
spinning and my eyes wouldn't
focus.

"...cheaper than buying
those four-dollar packs of
Government Issue joints
that they're cut with sawdust," said
Ruby, choking "We got this
bottle of Five Star for only
three."

"Oh, Ernie, that's what
they're all doing downstairs.
'Smell that bouquet' and
'Germany hasn't put out good
boo since the war' and 'Yes,
but 1968 Cambodian has more
body'. Oh, let's make this night
different," she plead. "Just like
in the olden days."

"We can be anywhen we
want," I said.

Roxanne looked at me.
"Ernie, what's wrong? I can't
– what are you saying?" Her
voice was slurring.

Alex handed me a bottle,
saying, "Take some aspirin
before you go to sleep."

"Or milk," said Mabel.

"Or the red tiny time pills
in Contac," I said. "I ever tell
you all about the seven stages
of–"

"Ernie, let's go," Roxanne
said.

I looked at her. "All right."

Standing up wasn't hard –
I've done that lots of times
when I've been flamed – but
I had to concentrate on moving
my feet, and I fell trying to go
down those shallow steps. Still,
I could've walked anywhere if
my stomach hadn't started
moving.

"Roxanne," I said, leaning
against the round wall, "I am
at stage eight. You'll drive
home, won't you?" I used my
finger for a feather.

"Well, I guess so. Oh,
Ernie."

"Pardon me, my dear." I
stood up and looked at the
viscous wine-plus in the closet.
"Hope they weren't planning
to use those computer cards."

The dirty deed had been
done. The speaker's voice
drifted up from the ground
floor. "So, I hope I've been
able to give you all some sort
of knowledge of the way fine
cannabis is sown, grown, and
blown." He sat down to a rush
of applause and there was a
dash for the tables.

"Come on Roxanne," I
said. "You heard the man."