Nibble.

~ I discover hard core punk rock, LSD, and a life full of hitchhiking and self- destruction. Maria and I hitchhike to get to where we’re going. We hitchhike to just thought of destinations with pockets empty of money, but full of angels. Dangerous situations are our usual situation, but we think our angel filled pockets protect us from the really bad stuff. We shoplift, pan handle, sniff paint, glue, and what have you. We joke that we are “pruning” our brain cells. There was no authority that we respected, none that could keep us from raising hell and spreading it liberally on whatever we came in contact with. I ditch school, and we thumb our way all over the Phoenix metropolitan area and beyond. Twice we make it to California. Once I pull a knife on a fat drunk dude who picks us up in Tempe. He drops Maria off first, cause I’m staying the night with my mother and her new boyfriend who live way out west. Maria is sitting in the front when she’s dropped off, and she slips me a steak knife from the front seat. We don’t usually carry weapons when we travel, but on this night, Maria decided to pack a serrated shank in her purse. Good thing too, cause psycho drives me way past where my mom lives. It’s all cow pastures, ditches, and dark night. I’m still in the back seat and ask him where he’s going, he laughs and pulls his car over, reaches back for me with clammy hands, and tries to rub my legs. I kick at his hands and tell him to stop, but he just laughs at me. I manage to throw the passenger seat forward and open the door while he’s still grabbing for me. Once I’m out of the car I pull out the knife, he’s out too, coming at me like a giant giggling brown weeble-wobble. I’m screaming, “Get the fuck away from me!” while brandishing my kitchen utensil. He’s stumbling from side to side, but still moving forward with his fat arms out at his sides, he’s laughing like an idiot— he charges towards me, and I run. Then I hear him coming at me with his car, I turn around, to see his red Mazda hatchback 10 feet from me, moving fast….I scream and run into a ditch. He slows down for a minute, and I’m still running, protected now by a dirt trench—- I hear him giggling as he drives