This was just one of many plates we polished off. It was a completely gratifying eating experience that I had put off for way too long. The companion I had with me made the day even better. A beautiful woman I hope to share many memories and meals with. She let's me open up to her and I can tell her things that I just don't get to talk about with anybody else. She makes me feel good; happy. And the feeling appears to be mutual. More to come.......We finished up, paid up, and proceeded to exit the restaurant. On the way out I hesitated, but decided to use the bathroom before we continued our day. The bathroom is utilized by the two semi-adjoined businesses: Saji-Ya and Dixie's. When I opened the door the first thing I noticed was a pair of legs protruding from under the stall door. Nothing shocks me, so I continued about my business (I had to go pee-pee!) until I heard a light snoring. A little odd, I thought. I sometimes snore, but I usually do it when I'm in bed sleeping. I decided it was necessary to investigate further, I just needed to finish up. Before I did there was a jolt of leg movement followed by an abrupt end to the snoring, followed then by an eerily familiar noise: the sound of a compressed air canister being discharged into a mouth. At first I thought somebody was draining the nitrous from a whipped-cream can, but then I heard it hit the floor with an empty, hollow noise and I knew what it was. Duster. Canned air, commonly used (only once by me) to produce a very intense high in which the participant often blacks out. I'm sorry, African-American's out. Gotta be politically correct!
I peeked around the corner into the stall and saw a man lying against the toilet snoring again, with the duster can in his lap. I went out and got the manager and we went back in to assess the situation. He wasn't responding, so I took the duster can and we walked out. The manager decided to call the paramedics at which point I asked if he needed me anymore, and thankfully he said, "no".
As we were walking away i said to Mollie that that reminded me of, well, me. That is the condition I could have been found in hundreds of times in my life. Not necessarily from duster, but from blackout drinking, involuntary slumber caused by sleep deprivation from days of meth use, or paralysis from ketamine ingestion. My first thought as I heard and then saw the emergency vehicles going to where we had just been was that I hope they take him to detox, and that somehow he finds his way into a meeting somewhere before his disease progresses and he passes out in the middle of a road, which I have done, or while driving which I have done three times, each incident resulting in a high speed crash with inanimate objects, thankfully. But the reality of it is, if you're passed out on the floor of a public restroom because you didn't have anywhere else to inhale duster, it's already progressed. It took me years of living like that daily before something good finally happened to me. I got arrested, and I've been clean ever since.
Happy, sober me.
