The thirst for knowledge was growing with each day and I soaked up as much spiritual and philosophical information as my brain could hold. I started to see the universal concept of cause and effect more clearly in my own life and began to make some changes. I had been riding a bike in Amsterdam since the first week in town but they had all been stolen bikes that I bought from junkies. The problem was that they would always get stolen again from me in a week or two. I saw how karma had seen to it that I got what I deserved so I decided to buy a new bike from the shop. i was confident that this bike would last and it didn’t hurt that now I had a place to bring it inside. The changes didn’t end there as one day out of the blue after eating the last hamburger in the fridge, I decided to stop eating meat. I thought it was probably bad karma as well and figured I could get by on peanut butter and cheese. I was loving life as much as ever but there was a distinct empty feeling when it came to women. I’d had a few offers from girls that were not very attractive but I had always had beautiful girlfriends and I was not gonna settle for anything less. However as good-looking girls always have many options, convincing one to hang out with a fugitive-illegal alien was proving fruitless. i had never been one to lie to get my way and with my new spiritual understandings that was not an option. With all things considered, I was not complaining.
Spring rolled in and another Queen’s Day was upon us. Kurt had been getting a bit disillusioned with Amsterdam recently as he had been working for a temp agency and they had him doing the worst types of jobs so he was not in a party mood for the day and sat out. Frank and I on the other hand were ready to rip it up, we both got a box of the most powerful mushrooms from the smart-shop and tripped our way through the city. Frank was one of the most mild-mannered, polite guy I knew but when he was on the shrooms it was a different story. I never laughed so hard hearing Frank’s sarcastic comments to talent-less people as they tried to entertain folks. Queen’s Day brings out every hack who ever played an instrument and most were terrible but very comical as well. As we walked home after another great Queen’s Day we rounded the corner to the boat and were met with a sight that changed our mood instantly, there was a group of people sitting on the roof of our boat. When we got to the boat we relaxed when we saw it was just a couple of drunk tourists and when we told them to get off they did without hesitation but it made me wonder if people had been doing it all day. I went over to the landlady’s house and she told me she had been chasing people off all day and that it is a common thing on big days. She said that people will try to get on and if nobody comes out to say anything then other will join in even to the point of sinking the boat which had happened before. Well I finally had a reason to appreciate the fact that the landlady lived next door.
Tourist season was back in full swing and work was once again a breeze. Having a set wage in the winter was great but now with the tourists back, it was a bit disheartening to see the other runners making the kind of money I used to make. However 650 was nothing to sneeze at and I was happy enough just to have a job. With not much work to do Frank and I made a return trip to Pinkpop, the line-up was nowhere near as good as the previous year but we’d had so much fun we decided to go anyway. I was all prepared when we got there with 10 fat joints rolled and a box of mushrooms from the smart-shop. As we get to the gate there was a row of people to search your bag and pockets. I felt no anxiety as I thought everything I had was legal. When the girl checking my bag found my joints she counted them and told me that I had too many and that I would have to leave some with her. Then when she found the mushrooms her whole attitude changed and she got very serious as she told me that they were illegal and she flagged sown her supervisor. I was shocked and tried to explain that I had bought them at a legitimate store. The supervisor was not having it and told me that I had to follow him as he picked up the box of mushrooms and headed down towards a fenced off area. He left the joints sitting next to my bag so I grabbed them and started following him. As we approach the area I can see it is a processing area for the police and I started to get a very bad feeling. I was about four steps behind the guy and as I casually glance over to the ticket taker line I can see he has no one in line and is not paying attention to what is happening with me. I acted without hesitation and turned into his line with my ticket in hand. He scans it, tells me to enjoy and I take three steps when I hear the supervisor yell “HEY”. I once again did not hesitate and without looking back I ran like Walter Payton. I was cutting and weaving through the throngs of people pouring in as I took off my coat and hat to change my appearance. I finally stopped running when I got to the big field and sat down to catch my breath. After a few tense moments I let out a big sigh of relief as I knew I had escaped and they would never find me now. I called Frank to see where he had gotten to and we met up shortly thereafter and had a good laugh about it. The rest of the day was fairly uneventful, the music was good but it certainly could have been better if I’d had the proper psychedelics.
Frank was a traveller at heart and was on a mission to see the world. He had been making well north of a thousand guilders a week for a couple of months and in July he decided it was time to see Africa. He planned for three months and would come back to the dam after that. Kurt had been fed up with his living situation for some time and it was showing in his otherwise relaxed demeanor. When he heard that a place on the boat was open, he jumped on it. he moved in the day Frank left and I thought we would have some good times ahead. What I hadn’t realized was that Kurt’s change in behavior was about more than just his previous living situation. He had become disillusioned in life, always in a bad mood and complaining about the most trivial things. In the coupe years I had been in Amsterdam I had seen a few people take the downward spiral and they had all ended in some kind of nervous breakdown. Not wanting to see that happen to my friend I started to gently urge him to move back home. He resisted at first but gradually warmed to the idea and by the end of August he was all packed and ready to go. I was sad to see him go and would miss my dance club brother but I knew he had to go to save his sanity. We said our good-byes not knowing if we would ever meet again.
I now had the boat to myself for the next month as Frank was due back in October. I would be nice to have the place to myself for a while, my very own bachelor pad and I was determined to make the most of it. There was a couple from Spain that had been working at the BA for the summer and had been talking about making traditional Spanish tortillas for everyone so one day after everyone was finished we headed over to the boat to make it happen. I put on some music and we spent the next couple hours having great fun with the work crew and the tortillas were amazing. When we left the boat we all decided to go back to work for a few drinks. On the walk there I found it very peculiar that people were grouped around T.V.’s at all the bars, but I shrugged it off thinking there must be some football match on. When we arrived at work and I saw what everyone had been watching, I knew the world would change forever.
A Continuing Story About Life On The Run