I prefer my brain uncooked, thank you.

I never thought drugs would be a serious problem.

But somehow I forgot I was in North Carolina with naturalists and romantics and those who proudly classify themselves as "free spirits."

A group of ten of us were walking along King Street (for now, forgive me while I drop street names) thrifting and giggling and rubbing sore feet and shiftily glancing at the low clouds hanging above the mountains. After passing a man in his late sixties with a giant dreadlock (notice the singular form) and a giant nail (again, notice the singular form) who was trying to sell us "stories" and "art work", both of which were pieces of soggy paper covered with pencil scratchings, one of the girls in the group stopped and sat down on a bench.

"Twenty bucks?!?" she cried. "That's all?"

Her roommate found a source who was willing to sell 'shrooms for twenty bucks for one half of one eighth of a gram. I'm assuming gram because 'gram' is the only drug-speak* word I know. For all I know it could have been a pound. But that's probably quite unlikely.

She somehow almost single-handedly managed to convince six/seven (one guy didn't directly say he wanted any, but kept asking if they were "chocolates," "Mexicans," or "libs.")

"So, Delainey. Are you in? You want to try some 'shrooms?"

It seemed like the perfect time to put to good use the "Just say 'No'" method I learned during my fourth grade year at the G.U.T.S. after-school program. Standing my ground and speaking with a confident voice I would loudly declare, "I want to make positive life choices, and drugs play no role in my future!"

I almost burst into tears due to fear and/or a fiercely protective concern for my untouched brain cells. But instead, chuckled uncomfortably and shook my head.

While the rest of the group went to withdraw money from their bank accounts and sit flowy-eyed in a room for the next four hours, I went home ("home?" "dorm?") and researched on several medical websites about the dangerous side-effects of eating mushrooms.

When I saw one of the girls this morning at a club expo, I asked her how the previous night had fared.

"People started climbing on furniture and one guy ate some flowers."

Oh, college. What hath you in store?


*"Drug speak" doesn't really help my case of being knowledgeable in the world of drugs.