Instances of Trouble Two 2003

Three Instances of Trouble - Part One
Another incidence of trouble at Barlow that occurred was when the campus was dry of weed. A friend who was from Quogue Long Island named Jeff J. Later on I discovered that my mother's college roommate from Quogue, knows Jeff's family and I will have to check up on him. I learned he never graduated and joined the US Army.

Jeff J was a thug in those days. A lot of people were afraid of him because he came to the school with a reputation for being a fighter, not necessarily violent, but on probation from the juvenile system in New York City. He shuffled along when he walked. The girls loved him. One time on a pass to New York City that I went with him I was thoroughly impressed because we would take the subway all over the place and we would just hop over the turnstiles with out paying. It was so natural and swift. I was like, how do this without fear. He goes just do it quick. We also stole drugs from dealers in New York City, which was impressive. I was thinking to myself, I never want to be like these people, in trouble with the law, addicted to drugs, living a miserable life.

Jeff and I decided to approach all the students that were dependant on Marijuana like ourselves and ask for donations so we could pool our measly five dollars together and Jeff and I would score in Poukeepsie New York where some Women's colleges were, I believe Vassar. Simon's Rock another elite school filled with kids that liked to party like ourselves was another possible destination. We managed to collect 60 or 70 dollars and everyone would get a few joints.

This was a Friday afternoon and we wouldn't be missed presumably if we returned before bed check, something like 10 PM. Now my memory fails me, so I am just guessing. We hitchhike without much success. We did manage to eventually get several hundreds of miles away and eventually we found our opportunity. Some dude in a souped up car picks us up and we score this golden brown exotic overpriced marijuana from some country that I never experienced before and I considered myself a connoisseur of anything smokable.

We were paying New York City prices, which I felt to be absurd. So we scored big-time, were thrilled and headed our way back to school. We weren't ones to watch the weather or read newspapers in those days so we didnÕt know that the Blizzard of 1974 was about to happen. I was cool in my tee shirt and maybe a flannel shirt. It started snowing and eventually they were no cars on the road. Our predictions of getting back by 10:00 P.M. were slowly diminishing.

At this point there were zero cars, we were miles away on a New York route. I was lost but Jeff J being a New Yorker knew where we were and decided to take the lead. Now every half hour we were smoking our stash, which soon ended up being the stash of the poor students back at school who had entrusted us with their money for their share of the weed that we bought and were supposed to bring back.

It was now too late to get back on time, it was after midnight and we had walked many miles without seeing any cars on this remote road back to Amenia New York from Poukeepsie. We found a closed down gas station that had a hand dryer that we were using for heat. It was a miserable situation because two people barely fit in the bathroom and we had to share the dryer for heat, which would only work every five minutes. Were suffering big-time.

Another distressing act was we were almost out of cigarettes, matches and weed. I was afraid of getting frostbite in my feet and Jeff J kept telling me not to worry because my toes were not black yet. I was also worried about what the repercussions were once we got back to school and Jeff J was on the verge of being expelled anyway.

Throughout the night we were making up stories to jive with what might get us off the hook. We eventually came up with the plan that we headed to Sharon Connecticut to do our laundry. But as I have stated earlier, Barlow was like a fish tank and word was already out that we had everyone's money that we pooled to go cop and get some Marijuana because the campus was dry.

Jeff J did get expelled because he was in much more trouble than myself. It was almost impossible to get expelled from Barlow, but a few students did. About three out of fifty got expelled. I didn't get asked back for my senior year which was devastating to me because I loved Barlow and managed to not get caught at a lot of my activities which would have surely had me expelled.

I was so sneaky that one time while tripping at the family like dinner table the Nurse who was eating at our table that night asked me if I had swallowed a cat.