Time, 1972

“There was this girl who used to wander around the campus, really spaced-out. Nobody seemed to know who she was; I’m not sure anybody knew who she was. Sometimes she’d show up at parties, wearing dark glasses, and just hang off by herself, wouldn’t talk to anyone. She’d just lean against the wall or flop out in a chair, staring up at the ceiling like she was in some kind of goddamn trance. One night she showed up at this big frat party. I watched her for a long time. She was leaning against a doorframe, sort of snapping the fingers of her left hand and talking to herself. People were moving around her like she wasn’t there, like she was invisible. After a while, I picked my way through the room. It was really crowded and, hell, I thought, maybe she actually is invisible. I walked up to her and tried to introduce myself, but she just kept snapping her fingers and talking. She seemed to be chanting something low under her breath, you know, and the room was loud as all get-out, so I leaned down with my ear right next to her face to try to figure out what she was saying …”

“Yeah. So. What was she saying?”

“All she was saying, over and over, was ‘Trip trip trip, time time time, trip trip trip, time time time, trip trip trip, time time time, trip trip trip, time time time …’”

“That was it?”

“That was it. That was all she said. She was chanting it to herself like that, like she was hypnotized. I asked her if she was okay, if I could get her a drink or something. And suddenly, she took off the sunglasses and looked straight at me. She had these just stunning, dark eyes, it really startled me.”

“Yeah? What’d she say?”

“She said, ‘Trip trip trip, time time time.’”