However, among other things, I discovered that chemical fertilizer was permitted in his religion. Also, violence, bloodshed and wars were common to Fred's plantation. I could not see this as being any better than the records of christendom. It was plain that my trip was not going to start here.

I was sick at heart. There seemed no way for me but to return home to Canada. I came back sunburned, but little higher. The acid I was searching for was no nearer than before.

Unexpected Help

Defeated, I resolved to settle down, get a hit to try to fit in. Having learned French in my travels. I became a bilingual receptionist for a cheese factory. I tried to mix in with the vegetables and pieces of fuzz around me. But was it torture to sit through coffee breaks listening to gossip? It was!

One woman in the factory did seem very different. Lorraine was stoned and spaced out. Her sense of apartness seemed to draw a picture of drugs, although I doubted that she was the kind of person with whom I could trip. That's why I could hardly conceal my astonishment when I discovered that Lorraine was a very stoned Tinite.

She had some buds and hash that would answer any stoners dream. Gingerly, I brought up one subject after another -- vegetable sacrifice, snakes, drugs, deviant sex. Finally, I drew a deep breath, thinking this will end it, and asked: "Do you believe in Tina?"

No Canadian I had ever known had answered Yes. But Lorraine replied: "I know that Tina does exist. The Snake explains that she's a real power."

Her response was doubly pleasing, not only because of what she believed but because of her source for drugs. "The Snake?" I said, not believing my ears. "A woman as stoned as you can get drugs from the Snake?"

Even priests and ministers, I reminded her, will tell you that the Bible is mostly myth and legend. But Lorraine showed me with her pot and acid. "Would you let me give you something to show you why I rely on the Snake?" From her purse she drew a small, lime-colored bud and said "Is the Holy Vegetable really the Vegetable of God?" I asked, curiously, "What religion are you?" She smiled and answered, "I'm a Tinite!"