It was in Egypt..........

Shovel was in one of his moods again and wanted to go looking for women at Billy’s Barn. Now Billy’s was a local hang out located on the outskirts of town that featured loud music, loose women and cold beer…..a dangerous, but enticing combination for a young man. We had spent a number of evenings there in the past, scuffing off boot leather on the dance floor with the pretty girls and doing our darnedest to drink the place dry. We had all enjoyed moderate success at Billy’s,…some in encouraging those girls to add to their reputations and others in just putting serious dents in those kegs behind the bar. On this particular evening, Shovel worked on the former and yours truly labored on the latter.
We started trying to round up a bunch o’ the boys right after supper, but everyone pretty much had plans for something else. Cub had gone fishing with Mark, Spider was spending “quality” time with Plumb, Raphael was working at the Commodore, and Wahoo was with his woman. Satisfied that everyone else had misassigned their priorities and against better judgment, Shovel and I met at his house and left in his Torino for an evening of southern excitement!
The old Torino made its way along the neighborhood streets of old Southeast with Shovel at the controls. The radio was blaring a popular song and the brown paper bag in the front floorboard was starting to get wet from the condensation on the iced cold brown bottles packed safely within it. On the way, we met one of Shovel’s ex-brother-in-laws, Kenny, as he was walking along the road. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, we offered him a ride and a beer. Now Kenny was a likeable fellow and he definitely liked, among other things, his “herb”. On this particular occasion, he happened to have some and offered to share it with us. Now you must know that I steered clear of that kind of thing as a matter of choice, but being tolerant of other folk’s passions, I didn’t object to his use of the herb, and cordially refused to partake when it was passed around. I kept the window cracked slightly, which normally drew out the dense cigarette smoke that always filled the car. On this occasion, it drew out the herbal smoke as well. Little did I know that I was breathing in some of it as it was sucked out of the window crack…..A few moments after Kenny had finished his “smoke”, he informed us, with a toothy grin, that it wasn’t any ordinary smoke……it was something special that he had brought along and we were all going to take “a little trip”…..Oh yeah…that was just great, I thought….Just what I needed and I didn’t even pack any luggage.
From that point on, I don’t remember much about the evening. Somewhere along the way, we lost Kenny. Shovel and I somehow made it to Billy’s. I don’t remember the band or the beer, but I do remember thinking it was 1984 when it was really 1976….what a strange journey. Somehow we survived and made it back to the safety of our homes. When I woke up the next morning, it was still 1976 and my head hurt. Shovel told me later on that he had left me at the table several times that night and had danced with a girl he had met. He said he had brought her back to the table during a break and had introduced her to me. He said I kept staring off into space and when he told me to tell her about the first time he and I had met, which had been in a friend’s bathroom as Shovel was “blowing his lunch”, he said I solemnly replied; “It was in Egypt.”. So I guess ol’ Kenny was right prophetic that evening and we all indeed had taken a little trip. Some of us stayed in Roanoke, but as for me,….it was in Egypt……..