No substances required

I step out, close the door, look at my watch - 4:30 pm - plenty of daylight left. I walk past Señor Jim’s place ..struggle up an overgrown canyon and reach the trail to Franceschi park where I can see the waters of the bay below, pale blue ..and the fog, pearly white, rolling inland and up the mountainside directly ahead of me. The trail goes into it and I follow ..getting that magical feeling my head is in the clouds ..revealing possibilities I don’t ordinarily see (no wonder my teachers warned me about this). Apparitions of the Indians that used to live here re-appear (as always) ..reminding me that I’m just passing through. My neighbor Amanda steps out of the fog ahead ..shrugging and going “it’s a reoccurring thing” ..before disappearing behind. Now I’m wondering who, or what is going to happen next. Julie is waiting with the weimaraners she rescued. She hands me a tennis ball and I throw it and it goes ‘poof’ and disappears. Lotus chases it and disappears too. I look at Julie and she tells me not to worry ..he’ll reappear somewhere down the line. Then she disappears. I hike out of the fog ..slide down the hill next to the county bowl ..a natural amphitheater I’m lucky to have as a neighbor ..then walk past Marlena’s place and head home, thinking: sometimes foreign substances aren’t required.