My Name Is Jimmy and You Better Not Wear It Out

After the show and the insanely long drive back into Shitsville from Jingletown, Tunny and I went to the 7-11 to celebrate his first show's success. We had done this before with his non-paying jobs, and when he was teaching me what he knew about his views on things and all that, but it felt more real this time. Tunny had gotten paid at the end of the night and now I was smoking pot with a fucking rock star.

And this pot wasn't like his other stuff either. Tunny usually sold straight pot that wasn't infused with anything. Tonight we shared the company of Mary Jane, and her dress was laced with LSD.

As soon as it kicked in, all colors brightened and things took a...toonish sort of feel. I felt loose and wild, and I couldn't help thinking, So this is what it feels like to lose your mind.

Tunny took one glance at me and immediately started giggling, and the way his grin seemed to wrap up and around his face made me start laughing too. We sucked up the few joints he brought like they were made of fucking candy, and the thought of candy made my stomach growl. And of course that growling made his stomach growl.

Now, this was the exact reason why we always set up camp outside of the 7-11 when we got high. There was food like, RIGHT THERE, so we didn't have to get into the car and go to a grocery store or anything.

So we got up off our asses and stumbled into the 7-11. No, if colors got brighter outside, they sure as hell were almost blinding inside. The white walls and floor hit my eyes like fucking flood lights after being surrounded in pitch black for a week. The ceiling seemed to be breathing, and I couldn't find anything unnatural about that at all. Buildings needed to breathe too, didn't they?

"For the love of God, tell me you see the purple dragon," Tunny hissed in my ear. I turned to see he was pointing at the cashier, and sure enough; purple dragon. And Jesus fucking CHRIST was that funny. It was so funny that we were practically on the floor from laughing so hard. When we were finally able to stand straight, we pulled random things from the shelves. Chips, gummy bears, Hostess cup cakes. Anything and everything that looked good came into our arms and then were deposited on the counter in front of the purple dragon. Of course before we could pay for anything, I felt the intense need to hurl because of all the colors that were starting to swirl together in there, so I left Tunny at the counter, yelling, "DUDE, WHAT THE HELL?" at me while I almost kicked down the door to the back to get to the bathrooms.

And of course, once INSIDE the bathroom, the need to hurl was gone, but I felt insanely drained. I laid down on the probably immensely dirty floor and just stared at the cieling, eyes almost bugging out of my head when the ceiling grew a face. And it started talking to me, but I could barely hear it. And I really, REALLY wanted to hear what it was saying, but instead of telling that like a normal person would, I said this:

"Do you really care about the graffiti in here? I mean, it's all absolute shit. All it talks about is how this guy loves so and so and the world is going to end at the center of the earth and all that. And that's absolute bull shit. But what if it's right? What if you go to the center of your world and find that that's the end. Bye-bye. No turning back and saying, 'Oh, fuck no!'? Dude, wouldn't that sucks? I mean, shouldn't we be able to get more out of life? Like, this place is the center of MY earth. This is where I come back to when I need something to do with Tunny. Is this 7-11 the end of MY world? Because that would suck. I don't even know what's real right now, and what if THAT'S the end of my world? What if I die here, talking to you, ya fucking ceiling, and I don't get any living done? I mean, I've lived here in Shitsville all my god damn life. I haven't LIVED yet, have I? This can't be all there is. This 7-11, school, my house, Jingletown, Shitsville. There has to be more to life! Do you know what I mean?"

But the ceiling didn't answer me. The ceiling just stared at me like I was fucking crazy and I was the one who was coming out of a flat surface in a bathroom.

At the center of the earth
In the parking lot of the 7-11 where I was taught
The motto was just a lie
It says "Home is where your heart is"
But what a shame
'cause everyone's heart doesn't beat the same
We're beating out of time
City of the dead
At the end of another lost highway
Signs misleading to nowhere--CITY OF THE DAMNED
Lost children with dirty faces today
No one really seems to care
I read the graffiti in the bathroom stall
Like the holy scriptures in a shopping mall
And so it seemed to confess it didn't say much
But it only confirmed that
The Center of the Earth is The End of the World
And I could really care less