Faire Weekdays

[Leftover tomatoes]

Week days at the fair site are lonely. There are a few other people, but they keep mostly to themselves. A few days ago I met a wild woman named Sue.

She took me to all the places we're probably not supposed to go, including the property off the back end of the site. It's a huge tomato field full of the remains of harvest. These are a far cry from the delicious tomatoes in the greenhouse at home, but they're better than the ones in the store - these are actually ripe.



[Moonflower, Datura stramonium]

At night, I've made friends with another member of the nightshade family. These beautiful flowers have an incredible fragrance, like candied lemons and perfume. I visit them every night before bed and enjoy their sweet scent, but with respect.

This is not a plant to treat lightly. Every year, bored teenagers eat parts of it because they've heard that it can get them high. (Statistically, this is the age group attracted to this experience.)

The trip usually goes something like this:
- They don't think they are altered.
- They disassociate from reality, not recognizing their friends or surroundings. Often, they don't even know that there are people trying to interact with them.
- If they are able to see their friends, they talk in gibberish and behave as if they're making sense.
- They lose motor coordination, crashing full speed into walls, furniture, through windows, etc., but don't register pain.
- They continue to run around doing strange things with little physical coordination, often injuring themselves in the process.
- They often lose memory of large chunks of time, sometimes all of it.

So, these kids wake up one to three days later in a hospital or police station, if they're lucky. If they were home alone and nobody found them, they'd wake up injured in a house that's completely trashed, with little or no recollection of what happened. Or they wouldn't wake up.

But she sure does smell nice! Just give her the respect she deserves. She's a temptress of the darkest kind...