Flight is for the Birds

It seemed like a good idea at the time. Little did he know the events that would take place later on that warm July evening. At first he wondered if the LSD tabs he purchased from Mike were real or just real fake. Ben took his in the car on the way out to the freeway exit where they had spent so many nights drinking booze and consuming ungodly amounts of various pharmaceuticals. Cocaine and Marijuana were usually the chemicals of choice, but on that day they felt like trying something new. Neither had ever taken acid before but were reassured by everyone they questioned that it was definitely a good idea and something they would never forget. Whether or not it was going to become a fond memory was up to them.

Their friends had told them to make sure they were in a safe spot when the acid started to take effect. Standing forty feet off the ground on a billboard at midnight seemed like as safe a place as any. The first visual came fast and not much more than a few minutes after reaching the top of the ladder. Ben muttered something about being able to fly or at least safely glide to the ground. Joe disagreed but his mind was soon changed by the effects of the dangerous hallucinogen coursing through his body.

And then it happened. Ben jumped. He didn't as much jump or fall as he did just launch into a swan dive off of the Hooters billboard high off the ground. Watching Ben fall didn't register in Joe's mind as being the dangerous act that it was. After seeing Ben flail and scream all the way to the swamp below, he soon decided to give flight a try for himself. Being a little bit more sheepish than his crazy partner in crime. he opted to roll of the side instead of jump full on out into the night. The next few seconds were sure to be longest and most terrifying moments of his life.

When he described the fall later he was positive that he was in the air for no less than five minutes. The fall wasn't the scary part of the whole ordeal. It was the impact and the resulting bilateral forearm fractures that happened as a direct result. Both argued for a few minutes about whether or not his injuries were real or just another very powerful hallucination. After some heated discussion about the possible recourse of their actions if the police were to get involved, which was sure to happen upon their arrival at the hospital, they decided that trip to the emergency room was something that needed to happen.

They were met there by a few friends and the boys in blue, of course. Joe had only broken one arm while Ben had somehow survived the fall without injury. They were both administered Thorazine injections to reverse the effects of the LSD. After a thorough interrogation by the police and the sheriff they were found to only be guilty of trespassing. So, for the cost of a trespassing fine and one broken arm they had proved again that humans cannot fly and should stay on the ground with all other mammals.