“Well, being a hospital corpsman, Jim knew a lot about
drugs. He introduced me to that book The Electric Kool-
Aid Acid Test.”
“Ahhh, a hippie in the Navy,” said Dr. Carnes. “I hope
to God he wasn’t on LSD when he was treating
patients.”
“No,” I said. “I wouldn’t think so, no. But he didn’t
give me drugs. He found out I was taking amphetamines
so he advised me on getting proper nutrition, and
drinking Instant Breakfast and orange juice, ’cause, you
know, the amphetamines were diet pills, and I was
losing too much weight. Well, one time he did give me
a couple of Valium. He said it seemed prudent at the
time.”
“I'm sure it was. Where did you get the diet
pills?”
“Off base. In Spain, they had some excellent diet
pills you could buy right over the counter, no
prescription, and they were top-class amphetamines.
Man, they were great! Anfetamina!”
“That’s one way to learn Spanish,” said the shrink.
“The Navy told us not to buy them or bring them onto
the base,” I continued. “They were legal for Spanish
citizens but not us. But most of the druggists didn’t
ask questions. Just walk in and say, ‘Una botella de stil-
dos, por favor’ and unless you looked like a speed freak,
they’d sell it to you.”
“Stil-dos?” asked Dr. Carnes. “Stil-Two?”
“Yeah, they were called Stil-2’s. Stil-dos.”
“And they sold them to you?”
“Oh, yeah, at first,” I said. “After a while the druggist
laughed and said, usted es demasiado flaco, un
esqueleto! You’re too thin! A skeleton!”
“So what did you do, then?”
“I got this friend of mine, Buddy Beckler, to go in and
buy them. He was a beefy guy, kind of fat, spoke
Spanish better than me. He never had any problem
getting them. He used them, too, once in a while.”
“And Jim the Cor’man?”
“Oh, he was a firm believer in modern medicine. The
thing is, hash was so cheap over there.”
"I hate to stymie your enthusiasm for mind expansion,"
said the psychiatrist, "But let's get back to your
obsession with the number four."
drugs. He introduced me to that book The Electric Kool-
Aid Acid Test.”
“Ahhh, a hippie in the Navy,” said Dr. Carnes. “I hope
to God he wasn’t on LSD when he was treating
patients.”
“No,” I said. “I wouldn’t think so, no. But he didn’t
give me drugs. He found out I was taking amphetamines
so he advised me on getting proper nutrition, and
drinking Instant Breakfast and orange juice, ’cause, you
know, the amphetamines were diet pills, and I was
losing too much weight. Well, one time he did give me
a couple of Valium. He said it seemed prudent at the
time.”
“I'm sure it was. Where did you get the diet
pills?”
“Off base. In Spain, they had some excellent diet
pills you could buy right over the counter, no
prescription, and they were top-class amphetamines.
Man, they were great! Anfetamina!”
“That’s one way to learn Spanish,” said the shrink.
“The Navy told us not to buy them or bring them onto
the base,” I continued. “They were legal for Spanish
citizens but not us. But most of the druggists didn’t
ask questions. Just walk in and say, ‘Una botella de stil-
dos, por favor’ and unless you looked like a speed freak,
they’d sell it to you.”
“Stil-dos?” asked Dr. Carnes. “Stil-Two?”
“Yeah, they were called Stil-2’s. Stil-dos.”
“And they sold them to you?”
“Oh, yeah, at first,” I said. “After a while the druggist
laughed and said, usted es demasiado flaco, un
esqueleto! You’re too thin! A skeleton!”
“So what did you do, then?”
“I got this friend of mine, Buddy Beckler, to go in and
buy them. He was a beefy guy, kind of fat, spoke
Spanish better than me. He never had any problem
getting them. He used them, too, once in a while.”
“And Jim the Cor’man?”
“Oh, he was a firm believer in modern medicine. The
thing is, hash was so cheap over there.”
"I hate to stymie your enthusiasm for mind expansion,"
said the psychiatrist, "But let's get back to your
obsession with the number four."
Camping out on a beach in Algeciras, Spain under the
black star-cluttered fabric of night. Jim the Cor’man,
Buddy Beckler, and I looked out in awe at the
mystical, mythical ocean, where the dark silhouette of
the Rock of Gibraltar sat covered with its own stars,
which were really lights from windows of houses,
hotels, offices, or restaurants — distant civilization.
A song by WAR called Four Cornered Room zoomed
and whooshed and wailed from our battery-powered
cassette tape player, blended with the wind and
circled our heads with profound transcendence, while
Jim passed his pipe around. Our scalps tingled as the
ocean-as-biggest-thing-in-the-world swelled outside
and inside us, DNA swimming through an electric
womb sea.
That night, Jim the Cor’man suggested I read the
Sherlock Holmes book. When he said the title of the
book was The Sign of the Four, it blew me away.
Again with the number four! How can I not be
obsessed with the number four?
black star-cluttered fabric of night. Jim the Cor’man,
Buddy Beckler, and I looked out in awe at the
mystical, mythical ocean, where the dark silhouette of
the Rock of Gibraltar sat covered with its own stars,
which were really lights from windows of houses,
hotels, offices, or restaurants — distant civilization.
A song by WAR called Four Cornered Room zoomed
and whooshed and wailed from our battery-powered
cassette tape player, blended with the wind and
circled our heads with profound transcendence, while
Jim passed his pipe around. Our scalps tingled as the
ocean-as-biggest-thing-in-the-world swelled outside
and inside us, DNA swimming through an electric
womb sea.
That night, Jim the Cor’man suggested I read the
Sherlock Holmes book. When he said the title of the
book was The Sign of the Four, it blew me away.
Again with the number four! How can I not be
obsessed with the number four?
| Rota, Spain - 1973 |
| Bill Ectric in Rota - 1974 |
| Somewhere on the coast of Spain |
| We took a ferry boat from Spain to Morocco |
| "Cor'man Jim" in Algeciras, Spain |
| Excerpt from Tamper, a novel by Bill Ectric |
| Bill, minutes before boarding the ferry |
Below: Photos taken by Bill in Tangier, Morocco
| Right: Cover photo intended to suggest the Island of Malta is actually Tangier, Morocco. photos by Bill Ectric (except photos of Bill, which are by other people) |