Fear and Loating in Las Vegas. A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream

And of course we could’nt possibly taking the stand in our own defense—not after they’d cleaned out the trunk of the Whale: “And I’d like to point out, Your Honor, that, our Prosecution Exhibits A through Y are available to the jury—yes, this incredible collection of illegal drugs and narcotics which the defendants had in their possession at the time of their arrests and forcible seizure by no less than nine officers, six of whom are still hospitalized ...and also Exhibit Z, sworn testimony by three professional narcotics experts selected by the president of the National District Attorneys’ Conference—which was seriously embarrassed by the defendants’ attempts to infiltrate, disrupt and pervert their annual convention ...these experts have testified that the drug cache in the possession of these defendants at the time of the arrests was enough to kill an entire platoon of United States Marines ...and gentlemen, I use the word kill with all due respect for the fear and loathing I’m sure it provokes in every one of you when you reflect that these degenerate rapists used this galaxy of narcotics to completely destroy the mind and morals of this once-innocent teenager, this ruined and de graded young girl who now sits before you in shame ... yes, they fed this girl enough drugs to scramble her brains so hor ribly that she can no longer even recall the filthy details of that orgy she was forced to endure ... and then they used her, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, for their own unspeakable ends!”

5. A Terrible Experience with Extremely Dangerous Drugs.

There was no way to cope with it. I stood up and gathered my luggage. It was important, I felt, to get out of town immediately.

My attorney seemed to finally grasp this. “Wait!” he shouted. “You can’t leave me alone in this snake pit! This room is in my name.”

I shrugged.

“OK, goddamnit,” he said, moving toward the phone.

“Look, I’ll call her. I’ll get her off our backs.” He nodded.

“You’re right. She’s my problem.”

I shook my head. “No, it’s gone too far.”

“You’d make a pisspoor lawyer,” he replied. “Relax. I’ll handle this.”

He dialed the Americana and asked for 1600. “Hi, Lucy,” he said. “Yeah, it’s me. I got your message ... what? Hell no, I taught the bastard a lesson he’ll never forget.., what? ...o, not dead, but he won’t be bothering anybody for a while—yeah, I left him out there; I stomped him, then pulled all teeth out..

Jesus, I thought. What a terrible thing to lay on somebody a head full of acid.

“But here’s the problem,” he was saying. “I have to leave here right away. That bastard cashed a bad check downstairs and gave you as a reference, so they’ll be looking for both of you ...yeah, I know, but you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, Lucy; some people are just basically rotten ...anyway, the pie as a reference, so they’ll be looking for both of us. The last thing in the world you want to do is call this hotel again; they’ll trace the call and put you straight behind bars ...no, I’m moving to the Tropicana right away; I’ll call you from there when I know my room number ...yeah, probably two hours; I have to act casual, or they’ll capture me too ...I think I’ll probably use a different name, but I’ll let you know what it is ...sure, just as soon as I check in ...what? of course; we’ll go to the Circus-Circus and catch the polar bear act; it’ll freak you right out . .

He was nervously shifting the phone from ear to ear while he talked: “No . . .listen, I have to get off; they probably have the phone tapped ...yeah, I know, it was horrible, but it’s all over now...0 MY GOD! THEY’RE KICKING THEDOOR DOWN!” He hurled the phone down and began shout ing: “No! Get away from me! I’m innocent! It was Duke! I swear to God!” He kicked the phon against the wall, then leaned down to it and began yelling again: “No, I don’t know where she is! I think she went back to Montana. You’ll never catch Lucy! She’s gone!” He kicked the receiver again, then picked it up and held it about a foot away from his mouth as he uttered a long, quavering groan. “No! No! Don’t put that thing on me!” he screamed. Then he slammed the phone down.

“Well,” he said quietly. “That’s that. She’s probably stuffing herself down the incinerator about now.” He smiled. “Yeah, I think that’s the last we’ll be hearing from Lucy.”

I slumped on the bed. His performance had given me a bad jolt. For a moment I thought his mind had snapped-that he actually believed he was being attacked by invisible enemies.

But the room was quiet again. He was back in his chair, watching Mission Impossible and fumbling Idly with the hash pipe. It was empty. “Where’s that opium?” he asked.

I tossed him the kit-bag. “Be careful,” I mattered. “There’s not ’such left.”

He chuckled,. “As your attorney,” he said, “I advise you not worry.” He nodded toward the bathroom. “Take a hit out of that little brown bottle in my shaving kit.”

“What is it?”