My Childhood: Magic Markers

I often used magic markers in class for various art projects. Generally, these projects were done in a well-ventilated room, so I didn’t notice any harmful effects.

Then, one day, it was rather cold outside, so the teacher closed all of the doors and windows. We began working on our various art projects. Mine was an especially precise drawing, so I got very close to the paper - and the markers.

My drawing took about an hour. I began to notice I felt a little light-headed, then a little dizzy. I continued, not thinking much of it. Then I felt a slight "buzz", a somewhat euphoric feeling. Again, I didn’t think much of it. I was really engrossed in that drawing.

Then I got high. Very high. Man, did that feel good. Wow, I thought. This is great!

All day long I thought about that experience. I liked the feeling, a lot, and wanted to repeat it.

So, when I got home, I immediately got some money from my mother and went to the local 5&10 store. I bought a whole set of magic markers. When I got home, I hid them under the bed.

The next day, I smuggled the magic markers to school in my lunch pail. I waited patiently until recess, anxiously wondering if I could repeat the same feeling that I’d had the day before.

When recess finally arrived, I ran to my special hiding place - a small hollow behind the bushes surrounding the school. I pulled out my magic markers and began sniffing.

For the next hour, I held those magic markers to my nose, breathing as deeply as I could. This time, probably because of the greater concentration of fumes, I passed quickly to the high. And I continued to sniff, wondering what could be beyond the high. Maybe this could get even better!

Then I got the absolutely worst headache that I have ever had in my entire life. Even now, over twenty years later, I remember that headache. It was worse than the migraines that I’ve suffered from all my life. I was worse than anything that I have ever experienced.

It was probably one of the best things that ever happened. Because, in the years that followed, I remembered that headache. When the kids in high school would offer me pot, I remembered that headache. When, later in life, people offered me cocaine and hashish, I remembered that headache. When people offer me alcohol at parties, I remember that headache.

Because of that one, bad experience, I have never tasted alcohol, never smoked a cigarette, never smoked pot, never snorted cocaine, never injected heroine, never popped pills, never breathed nitrous oxide, never popped amyl nitrite. All of these things have been offered to me, and I have refused them all.