Lysergically Yours | Page 6

didn't
expose his nipples. At first Johnny thought that Lyle was intentionally
making some sort of scene to disrupt the mixer, but upon looking more
closely it became clear that the chemists were not only unoffended by
what Lyle was saying, but actually quite interested. Johnny tried but
couldn't make out the words from where he was standing. It was then
that Lyle noticed Johnny. Their eyes met and Lyle raised his eyebrows
briefly while he continued to orate. Johnny had no idea what was going
on so he simply smiled and nodded back at Lyle, finished piling futo
maki onto his plate and started looking around for Tinka whom he had
completely lost track of.
He was still looking when he noticed that Lyle had broken off from his
group and seemed to be gravitating in his direction.
"Didn't expect to see you here," Lyle said when he got close enough.
"Me either."
"You didn't expect to see me here, or to see you here?" Lyle asked
smiling.
"Take your pick."
Lyle grabbed an avocado roll off of Johnny's plate and popped it in his
mouth. He seemed entirely absorbed in his own thoughts as he chewed,
as though he had from one instance to the next completely forgotten
that Johnny was there. This turned out to be untrue the next moment
when Lyle reached for the glass of wine in Johnny's hand, took a
generous sip, swallowed and handed the glass back. "Pretty damn good
for free food."

"No kidding," Johnny responded guardedly. He couldn't really think of
anything better to say since he was half-expecting his mother or some
other equally unlikely person to walk through the door at any second.
Johnny's mother was in fact in Peterborough making love to Johnny's
father at just that moment and would live the rest of her life without
ever setting foot in Annesley hall. So he was okay on that front.
Despite Johnny's obvious disorientation, Lyle kept dragging the
conversation along: "That chica is bad news."
Johnny was snapped back into the present by the non sequitur and
raised his eyebrows inquiringly.
"The Korean girl you came in with", Lyle elaborated, "I've seen her
around. She's trouble."
Johnny merely smiled and shrugged: "Whatever". He didn't mind a
little trouble. Lyle shrugged as well, as though to say: "I warned you,
that's all I can do".
Johnny stopped to take another look around the room. He took in the
two lonely looking girls leaning against the drink table. They both had
that look in their eyes that said "yeah, I'm a woman in a man's world.
What's it to you?" He took in the man in his fifties wearing the baby
blue suit who was waving his arms excitedly and talking about
Buckminster Fuller as his wife looked on with terminal boredom.
Suddenly Johnny realized that, aside from Lyle's presence, this scene
was no stranger than any number of others he had been through in his
life. Without warning, he hit his social stride and grabbed the
conversational bull by the horns: "It wasn't acid that Huxley was
talking about in Doors of Perception, it was mescaline."
"I know," said Lyle, "but he talks about acid in Heaven and Hell, and if
you've read one, you're going to read the other."
"Yeah, but he also talks about strobe lights in Heaven and Hell."
"I'm not interested in strobe lights. I have a professional interest in

acid."
Ah! Johnny's thought, he's a dealer. Maybe the future wasn't as bright
as he had first thought. But still, Lyle claimed to be looking for acid. If
he was a dealer looking for a new connection there may well be even
more money to be made. And at a lower risk.
"Well," Johnny said, "no promises, but if you're still interested I might
just be able to help you out."
Lyle had opened his mouth to respond when Tinka's voice suddenly
interrupted them: "Come on Doctor, we're leaving."
At the word "Doctor" Lyle raised his eyebrows and smiled. Tinka shot
him a look that would have killed a lesser man. He smiled wider,
showing his teeth. Tinka began to bodily drag Johnny away. He
mouthed "Monday" to Lyle and proceeded to follow Tinka under his
own power: "What's the rush?"
"Some old biddy wants to claw my eyes out because she thinks I was
flirting with her husband."
"Were you?"
"Irrelevant," she said as they passed the drink table. Tinka let go of
Johnny's arm so that she would be able to grab two unopened bottles of
wine on the way past. Then they were out the door. Tinka stopped
suddenly: "Shit!"
"What's wrong?"
She thrust the bottles into Johnny's hands: "Hold these. Wait Here."
And then she was running back through the doors into the