(Wife out of detox and we’re both high; just cut someone off on the road accidently but he’s after us now.)

The cat was on us again like maggots on garbage. Coming real close and looking real grim when I peeped at him in the rear view mirror. We were just getting into town and the lights on the highway were green. I saw that the light by the Mobil gas station just changed to orange and I had to stop. When I stopped I left some space between me and the car in front of me.

I looked into the rear view mirror and I saw him ripping out of his car with a crow bar in his hand and he looked like this giant Paul Bunyan woodsman over six feet tall and I knew that I was screwed.

I figured I’d have as much chance as a pigeon in a wolf pack if I went physical with him and I was so frightened that my bowels felt like they’d turned to oil. I hit the gas and yanked the steering wheel to the right and flew through that Mobil gas station like it was an interstate. My wife yelled at me as we pulled out into the adjacent roadway as an oncoming car swung wildly around us blaring on the horn and I told her to “just shut up” and she did. The guy chasing us jumped back into his car and was on us again.

He had anger fueling his jets but I was running for my life so I had some edge on the creep. The light turned red ahead and I flew through it like it was bumper-car city and pulled a sharp right with my wheels screaming for mercy. Looked back. Heart pounding. Sascha yelling at me. The cat was still coming but he’d lost a little ground. The thought of the gun back at the house ripped through my head and I knew why I never carried it with me anymore.

Red light ahead. Cars stopped in my lane. Sascha screamed as I crossed the line into the oncoming lane and took a left through the traffic. Horns were blowing and the screech of brakes all around, but I didn’t look back and hit the gas and the stores and people were flying by the truck in what was once the quiet streets of Rutland. I looked back to see if the guy was still coming.

When I looked back to see if the guy was still after us, I saw that he was nowhere in sight. I kept going, not to take any chances, and made rights and lefts as I flew through the streets of Rutland. Finally I was in the residential section of town.

I slowed the car down and my head and heart was still racing. I knew it was time to head home. I felt like my head from the drugs was almost gone but I figured that if I ate some more pills that it would creep back. So I did.

The next thing I remember was we were back at the house and the rabbit was in the wood stove. I had a glass of wine in front of me and Sascha was rolling a joint and talking about calling the detox tomorrow to see if she could get back in. We fell asleep and the rabbit burned all on the outside and we picked away the burnt flesh in the morning and cut up that meat that wasn’t burnt and ate it for breakfast. It was a good rabbit.

Sascha called the detox and they said the only way she could come back was if I didn’t come there to visit or call her. She decided to go and I dropped her back at Canterbury Farm.

The next day, sick and shaking, I checked into Serenity House and that put about 40 miles between Sascha and I. They had to medicate me heavily for about five days so I wouldn’t have a seizure.

I was still being withdrawn slowly from the Klonopin and I had been there seventeen days when they called me into the office. My counselor was there and they told me that they had something important to tell me and they sat me down. Right away I got frightened. I knew it was about my wife.

I was right. They said they had to tell me that my wife had left treatment this morning. She left with someone else. Another guy. I felt like my whole world spun into black holes and I got dizzy and didn’t know what to do. I wanted to run. I wanted to get high. The counselors talked to me for a while and I don’t remember much of what was said but my throat hurt all the time they were talking.

They kept talking and then gave me an extra dose of medication and they said that I could stay an extra 21 days because they thought I needed it. I said I would stay.

That night I had a dream. I was walking into a church and a man with blond hair and a black robe was standing there. He asked me if I had come to pray and I said that I wasn’t sure why I was there. I looked around and it appeared to be a Catholic church but something was different and I couldn’t tell what it was. I walked up the aisle between the benches and he walked with me. I looked up at the crucifix and she was up there all white and with her head tipped to the side and the nails were driven through her palms and feet and she hung there with marble tears on her cheeks. (To Be Concluded)

(I was dope-sick, trying to cop from a doctor; my wife was in detox.)

I really wanted to smoke a cigarette to calm down but I didn’t want to walk in there stinking of tobacco so I just took some deep breaths and listened to the phlegm in my chest rattle. It sounded great. When she put the stethoscope to my chest she was going to hear all the right noises.

I walked into the office. There was an old woman sitting there. Doctors that treat old people sometimes are easier to make than others. I nodded to the old lady when she looked up at me and then sat down and picked up a magazine. I flipped through the pages and saw a couple of articles that looked interesting but I couldn’t keep my mind on them because I was always thinking of what to say to the doctor to get the drugs. My stomach was all nervous and I could feel it gnawing at itself. I had to urinate and I looked around for a bathroom. I didn’t see one and I hoped it wouldn’t be too long before I could go in.

The door opened and the doctor came out. She looked to be in her late thirties and wore brown glasses. Her hair was brown and hung loosely onto her shoulders with a little wisp over her glasses. The thought crossed my mind that I was glad that her hair wasn’t tied up in a bun. An old gent followed her out of the office and the old woman sitting near me smiled at him and stood up as he walked over to her. My heart leaped in my chest. They were together and I was next. The old woman was just waiting for her husband to come out of the office. I saw the scripts in his hand and I wondered what the doctor had given him.

They all talked for a few minutes and then the doctor motioned me in. Good. No nurse. I chatted with her as she took my weight, my blood pressure, and my respiration and pulse. I looked as she charted my blood pressure and I was happy to see that it was elevated. That always helped me get the pills.

She got up and left the room for a minute and I looked around to see if there was anything worth taking. Then she quickly returned. I told her how my chest was all congested and I had trouble sleeping at night with all the coughing.

“This happens to me every winter. Maybe I should move south. I don’t know. I just like the change of seasons.”

She called my name. (To Be Continued…Part III click here please…)

(My wife is in Detox. I can’t get into one for two days so I’m in the process of cashing a prescription because I’m dope-sick.)

I can’t describe the feeling when you walk out of the drug store with the stuff in your hand. It is like the whole world is yours and you got over on the best of them. I wanted to dance out of the store but I just walked. I strolled over to the coffee shop next door and took that piss that I had been holding since the doctor’s office and then ordered a coffee to down with the pills and the medicine. The hot coffee pumps the drugs into your system and there’s nothing so good as the cigarette with your coffee after the medicine slides down your throat. Then the high comes on.

I looked around the parking lot to see if anyone was watching. No one seemed close. I threw three 2 milligram Klonopin into my mouth and lifted the Tussy jug to my lips. I held it up until the last of it spilled into my mouth. Put the cap back on it and stood it upside down on the seat for the residue to drain into the cap so I could suck it out later. Lit a smoke and sipped my coffee as I decided what to do next.

I figured I would visit my wife. That was my first mistake.

Right away Sascha could tell that I was high and was pissed off that I didn’t save her any. I told her that I still had Klonopin to give her but that wasn’t good enough for her. She started yelling at me and the people at the treatment center told me that I had to leave and she said that she was coming with me and that I better have another croaker lined up for a script so she could get high too. I just wanted to enjoy my high and all hell was breaking loose. I knew that it was going to be a big hassle to cop for her and she would bitch the whole way there until we got it. I wished she would stay at the treatment center and I wished I hadn’t gone to see her there but it was too late now.

I don’t know how I always keep making these mistakes over and over again.

The staff told her that if she left with me that she couldn’t come back and that if she stayed they didn’t think it would be a good idea for me to come any more. I knew that if she stayed they would try to turn her against me and tell her that she should find another mate, so even though I wanted her to stay, I told her to come with me.

I was high and so I knew I would be at my best now for making another doctor.

Sascha threw her clothes in her bag and we blew out the door of the treatment center. She ate two Klonopins as soon as she got into the truck and made me buy her a beer to wash it down. We stopped at a phone booth and looked in the book for another doctor. There was a doctor in Brandon and I called him and he said that he had one appointment left if I could get there by 4:30. I said yes and let her drive so I could dig my head.

She bitched at me the entire ride. I chain-smoked and nodded while she talked. Finally we pulled into the parking lot. The office was in an old colonial house and I went in. The waiting room was empty. The doctor came out and beckoned me in and I laid my rap on him. He took my vital signs and listened to my chest. He thought it sounded terrible and wrote me a script for four more ounces of the Tussionex and gave me one of those garbage inhalers and some antibiotics.

We raced to the drug store because sometimes in these little hick towns in Vermont they close really early. I filled the antibiotics with the cough syrup but I threw away the script for the inhaler. I had learned that those inhalers cost a lot of money from past experience.

I got back out to the truck and I told her that I was going to do one ounce of the syrup because I went in to make the croaker and did all the work. She complained but there was nothing she could do about it. I ate two more pills and did a heavy ounce and then let her do her three and she drained the bottle and took a few more pills.

I took over the wheel after we had coffee. We were turning onto Route 7 heading into Rutland and I heard a screech of brakes and this guy almost hit us as we came into the main highway. Then the asshole starts riding my tail. I just hadn’t seen him and it wasn’t my fault. The guy was beginning to piss me off so I turned around and flipped him the bird. He had an older woman in the front seat and someone was sitting in the back seat too.

My wife said to let it slide but the dude was riding our ass real close so I slammed on the brakes just for a second and he came up on me and freaked because he thought he was going to hit us and he locked up his brakes and his car spun sideways as I hit the gas and pulled away laughing like a loon. (To Be Continued…Part IV click here please… )

I kept drinking the wine so the withdrawal from the Klonopin wouldn’t hit me. I didn’t want to have a seizure out here in the country. My wife, Sascha, had already gone into detox at a place called Canterbury Farm. Serenity House said that they had an opening for me but it would not be until Monday. It was Saturday morning and they might as well said eternity.

I thought it would be a good idea to see if I could make a doctor. I pulled out the phone book and flipped to the yellow pages. There’s not a hell of a lot of doctors close by in the hills of Vermont. It felt chilly and I threw a couple of logs into the wood stove. Back to the phone book. Dropped my finger on a doctor that was in the town of Ludlow. A woman doctor.

Sometimes that’s a good thing and sometimes not. Usually a woman doctor can be conned the first time, but every now and then you can run into a real bitch. I crossed my fingers and then dialed the number.

Two rings. Click. It was her nurse or secretary and she said she had an open time at 1:30pm. I looked at the clock on the wall. Almost 11:00 o’clock. Fuck! Two and one-half hours and not even a sure thing. But I had to stop drinking the wine ‘cause she’d never come off with the script if I smelled like a boozer. I thought that I’d try for both cough syrup and the pills. That should hold me until Monday.

I smoked a joint of the homegrown and walked outside. The rabbit cages were covered with snow again and I brushed them off and put fresh food inside the little bowls. I brought their water bowls into the cabin, popped the ice out of it, filled it with warm water, and brought the bowls back out. I looked in and realized that there was only one rabbit left in one cage. I decided to eat it. I pulled out the black and white bunny by the ears and put it down on the ground under my foot. Held it tight while I pulled out the .38 and pumped one bullet into it’s head. It jerked for a moment and then lay still. Slit it and cleaned it and pulled its skin off like taking a foot out of a wet sock.

Then I brought it back inside and made some sauce for it to soak in. Usually I like to let it soak for a few days to improve the taste but I was out of food and didn’t want to waste money on food that I might need to cash the scripts. I’d cook it tonight if I was loaded. If I couldn’t get any drugs I wouldn’t be hungry anyway.

I looked at the clock. Almost half-past twelve. I figured I’d pull out and go to the doc a little early. Maybe her first appointment wouldn’t show. Maybe I could just catch her going in and she would take me first. Maybe maybe maybe. Three miles of dirt road in the snow and seven of country highway. Good to get a start on things anyhow.

I grabbed my props: an old bottle of Tussionex from a previous script and a vial of pills with just the right run-out date on it. I always could come up with them because I had a satchel of them saved just for this purpose. A lot of doctors would come right off with the drugs if they saw that another doctor where I used to live gave them to me also. Chronic medical conditions. Bronchitus. Anxiety because of the respiratory ailments. I’d chain smoke non-filters all day before the appointment and my lungs would sound like I was really sick.

I loved it when I came down with a real bad chest cold because then I would travel all over the countryside making doctor after doctor. I could even get people to bankroll me on the scripts because they knew I was almost a sure thing. It always seemed funny to me how, when I was high, the doctors would come right off for me but if I was dope-sick, that’s when I would have the most trouble.

I was dope-sick and I was nervous. I tore apart the dresser drawers just hoping to come up with a pill or something. I went through the satchel with all the Tussionex and Hycodan bottles to see if maybe I had left the wash in one of them. No luck. I guess I had gone through them and already done that. The thought crossed my mind that this seemed all too familiar.

I put the rabbit in the pan up on top of the fridge, got my hat and coat and boots on and grabbed the keys to the truck and crunched down the drive to the pickup. It cranked slow because of the cold but it kicked over and I rolled down the incline into the dirt road. I had snow tires on all four wheels and the back of the truck was loaded with sandbags so the going wasn’t so bad. I smoked the rest of the joint and then ate a lifesaver to kill the smell. I don’t know why I smoked the joint because all it did was make me more paranoid. By the time I got to the doctor’s office I felt like my head was going to explode. (To be continued… Part II click here please…)