Driving through the once prominent town whose busy streets and thriving economy left years ago, along with the steel mill companies, I stared at the few remaining establishments which have managed to survive the mass exodus of prosperous customers. The town that once fed off of customers capable of purchasing items with hard earned income has now taken on a new breed of customers who spend only what the government supplies to them. These once well fed establishments have faded into dingy buildings made of skin and bone with only the memory of yesterdays prosperous days. They have morphed into a new day where customers seldom spend more than one day a month, usually on the first day. The establishments that share streets with sidewalks no longer capable of supporting wheelchairs or grocery carts but now find work in the maiming business as they twist most ankles that come their way. Both the businesses and sidewalks must stay in business somehow, even if it means hurting the people instead of helping them.
The stores in this town consist of small, corner store lottery merchants, liquor stores, dollar stores and unhealthy eateries which I wouldn't allow my dog to eat from let alone children. The parents do not share this ideology as they ignore their children and allow them to clog their arteries and increase their chances of diabetes just so they can stare towards the liquor stores with adorning eyes. A stare which makes you believe the parents would trade in their children for a fix of something, of anything. The place depressed the hell out of me and made me feel a type of pity that one feels for a dying person on their death bed, and I felt it here because this town was already dead and the people didn't even know it.
"Stop! Stop here," I said to Ralph.
"What? Where? Why are we stopping?"
"Pull over. I want to go into that cigar shop," I said.
Normally I would have continued to pity these folks while remaining fixed in the car, without the need to socialize with any of them, but something caught my eye. Something in the window. The cigar shop was made mostly of windows with a few bricks lying just below them. Like so many other places on the forgotten street, it didn't even have a decent sign. Just the sign which looked hand stenciled above the front door which read "CIGARS" but this was not the sign which peeked my interest. The sign responsible for the sudden stop was the one stenciled across the window which read "Salvia Divinorum".
"Why are we stopping?"
"I want to buy some Salvia Divinorum," I said.
"Salva what!"
"Sal-va Dinor-um," as I tried to pronounce it myself.
I explained to Ralph about Salvia Divinorum as we walked across the street, which was considered the main street in town, and only 3 or 4 cars passed us in the middle of rush hour.
I began: "I take a lot of herbs like St. John's Wort, Astragalus root, Ginkgo Biloba, Golden Seal and a a few fish oils capsules every day. A good bit of the time I get a natural high from taking these products and it makes sense because a few of them are geared towards enhancing your overall mood and sense of well being.
The other day while browsing the internet, I typed in "Herbs that give you a natural high" and an article came up about the plant Salvia Divinorum - Read Here. The article explained how the plant gives you a natural high and sense of well being when eaten or smoked. It claimed it has psychedelic properties when consumed so I decided to order some but then I decided against it after reading further. The article explained how it has been banned in several countries and a few states in the United States have also made it illegal, a schedule 1 drug. I found that the plant is still legal in PA but there is current legislation to stop the sell of the plant. Even though it is not illegal in PA, I decided it would be best not to have it shipped to me through the mail. I decided I'd buy some if I ever came across it in a health food store instead so there are no traces of me ever having purchased it. So when I saw the sign in the window I just had to stop."
"You spend too much time on the internet," Ralph said. "Well let's go see what they have," he finished.
"Let's," I said.
Walking into the store I spotted a young hippie girl behind the counter speaking to a gentleman seated in a chair. She was a cute girl and he was not much to look at and I thought of how all the ugly hippie guys always get smoking hot hippie chicks. It doesn't matter how little they bath and how long they grow their hair because they still pull hot ass. If I were an ugly man I would go full blown hippie and refuse to shower for weeks and forget about ever getting my hair cut again.
She princess kissed the toad and then walked out of the store while muttering something about seeing him later that evening. I watch her exit then turned my attention to him.
"Hey do you have Sal...."
"Salvia Divinorum," he cut me off. He said it in perfect tongue as if it rolls from his mouth more often than pot smoke, on a daily basis.
"Yeah, I heard it's getting harder to get because of new laws to ban the stuff."
"Yes, in fact I think Florida just outlawed it today. The government is trying to ban it altogether," he said while paying us little attention.
"Well, where is it," I demanded.
Pointing: "Over there in the glass display."
Ralph and I walked over to the display case and found a variety of the stuff. It was packaged in a variety of ways and each package contained the potency level on the front cover with x5 , x10, x20. They were not cheap. The cheapest package was 20 dollars and it soared to well over 100 dollars as the potency level increased. It did not take me long to decide.
"I'll take the twenty dollar package," I said.
"Ok," he said as he pulled the silver package from the display case.
He rang up the goods and I slipped them into my backpack.
"Do you swear by this stuff?"
"I won't say that. Everyone reacts differently to Salvia. Some people say it does nothing and others swear it is the best thing they've ever experienced," he said.
"Ok. Good enough for me. I'll be the judge."
In the car I pulled the package from my bag. Ralph leaned over to look as well.
"Hey look, the label says 'A tool for mind exploration'. You have to tell me if it works."
"I will."
Tomorrow - The effects of smoking Salvia Divinorum
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