AR’ BACK YARD

The club soon evolved into a second home for us. The fact we’d hooked up with Steve the previous year had only heightened our business with the mass sale of trips (as in LSD trips) and speed. We practically ran the trade inside the club.

Along with our wholesaling the gear, the amount of money our crew was making inside the club itself was immense, as they were bringing in large sums of hard cash from the gear they were selling to the mass public. And believe me, the public at large was more than hungry for what we had on offer. Things couldn’t have been better for us.

Ecstasy tablets had been around for a few years now. Although we’d tried what were supposedly Es, as they were more commonly known we hadn’t been overly impressed with them. I personally hadn’t really got off that much with the ones that we’d tried, thinking them to be like a good little bit of speed. Stories were floating about that 1987 had done wonders for the drug within the clubbing scene, not only heightening the level of the music, but also the whole atmosphere of the night. Once again though, I personally hadn’t experienced it, or maybe we’d just had inferior pills.

There was definitely a market out there for the drug, although at the time we didn’t have any contacts for the drug itself and the ones we did know of were demanding ridiculous amounts for them. Like I said, we weren’t impressed enough to fork out the money those people wanted for something that wasn’t, in our minds anyway, all that good anyway. This all changed one particular night.

All of us were in our usual spot for the night, breathing in the smoke filled air of the club.

‘Alright there lads! How’s it going then?’ It was Steve, which to be fair was extremely peculiar, as he never just showed up like that especially not at the club.

‘What the fuck are you doing ‘ere?’ Prey looked shocked to see him. ‘Not that you’re not welcome or anything,’ he added grabbing hold of the older man’s hand and shaking it firmly.

‘You alright mate?’ I nodded at him. ‘Everything’s still sweet ain’t it,’ I enquired, a little concerned at his unannounced arrival.

‘Yeah… couldn’t be better lads,’ he smirked, winking at us. ‘Where’s Jonah?’

‘Right behind you old timer.’

‘Hiya Steve,’ Donna smiled. She’d met him a few times before and like everybody else she had managed to win him over.

‘Alright girl,’ Steve smiled at her. ‘Come here and make an old man happy,’ he said opening his arms for a hug.

‘Alright.., back to the initial question Steve,’ Prey said, laughing at the way Steve was carrying on. ‘What the fuck are you doing ‘ere man?’

‘I got you all a treat,’ he said letting out an excited laugh as he told us this. ‘Something I reckon you’re gonna like a lot that my mate from San Francisco has just brought over with him.’ He said opening his hand to reveal a small bag containing white pills.

‘What the fuck are those things?’ I asked curiously.

‘These my son, are going to change everything,’ he laughed.

‘How’s that then Steve?’ Sean asked who’d just returned from the bar.

Now Steve seemed really excited. In fact, I could have sworn that his eyes were shaking from his own excitable attitude. ‘These are known as Ecstasy tablets,’ he said, looking at all of us. ‘You’ve heard of them, haven’t you?’ he then asked as we all nodded. ‘I tell you all now, no bullshit, I don’t care if you’ve tried them before. Because you won’t have tried any as good as little babies. These will blow your minds.’

‘What the fuck we waiting for then Steve,’ I laughed, ‘give us one then. Let’s find out just how good these things are.’ I was eager to find out what had him so animated.

Popping the plain white pill into my mouth and swallowing, I then gave one to Donna. Prey and Steve popped theirs with Sean following suit.

Jonah scuttled off to find Sharon to give her one too. ‘Right Prey. There’s another fifty odd in there. Get someone to give them out to potential customers. Oh, and get them to give some to the real mad heads. You know, the ones who normally want to kick the shit out of each other,’ Steve said, smirking mischievously as he said it.

‘Why?’ Prey asked.

‘A little experiment for you all to witness… watch the magic work.’

I began laughing at him; he sounded like more like Merlin the way he was carrying on, going on about his magical drugs.

‘Ere’are Dougsy.’

‘What’s up Chopper?’ he asked as he came over to where we were all standing. I explained what he needed to do with the Es and he scuttled away.

‘You talking real crazy tonight old man,’ Prey informed Steve who hadn’t stopped smiling since he’d first come into the club.

‘Maybe, maybe not though,’ he laughed wildly at us, shaking his head. ‘C’mon on Donna… come help me with the drinks will you,’ he said, linking her arm.

Prey turned to me. ‘You any idea what the fuck he’s going on about Chopper?’

‘Not a fuckin’ clue mate,’ I replied laughing at the mental picture of the crazy old man.

‘Sure seems happy about something though,’ Sean said.

‘Ain’t that the truth,’ Jonah laughed, returning with Sharon in tow.

Steve and Donna returned shortly with the drinks. ‘Alright everybody,’ Steve said cheerfully.

Damn, he sure was in a good mood tonight.

About half an hour had passed since we’d all dropped the pills and I still couldn’t feel the effects of whatever it was that I was supposed to be feeling. ‘Just wait and see,’ was all that Steve kept saying to us. His face now looked illuminated with bubbling titillation.

Just then I could feel Donna rubbing against my side. Glancing at her, you could see her eyes beginning to roll. ‘You alright?’ I asked a little concerned, as she never usually did any drugs.

‘Oh yes,’ she purred seductively as it suddenly started to hit me.

A whole fusion of different sensations, extremely horny, hot then cold, sexy, hot again, rushes, dizziness it all seemed to be at coming at me from a thousand different angles – and all of it at once. I began shuddering as the Ecstasy began to take control of my body… Shit… it sure felt good though. And it wasn’t like anything that I’d come up on before. Although I couldn’t explain it properly, all I knew was that I liked it a lot.

‘These are good, aren’t they Chopper,’ Donna said, dancing sexily next to me.

The pill was becoming stronger and more intense. I could feel the grin across my face as I found myself moving along unwittingly to the bass of the tunes flowing from the sound system. I gazed over at Prey and Steve… now these must be extremely good. Prey was actually dancing. I’d never really seen Prey dance before now, well at least not as enthusiastically as he was doing right now. ‘Damn these are colossal… aren’t they,’ I mumbled, kissing Donna, which sure felt good too.

‘I’m so hot,’ Donna whispered.

I glanced over to Jonah and Sharon and they were all over each other. Sean was just grinning away and dancing like a madman. His arms seemed to be almost controlling themselves and it looked as though at that precise moment, he didn’t care for anything else but to dance the night away.

Just then a massive judder shot through me; my body was rippling from the effects of the drug. ‘Fuck me!’ I said, shaking my head in disbelief at what I was experiencing. So this is what Ecstasy was supposed to feel like. I’d never felt anything so good before.

Holding within me a feeling of being at one with everything around me. Overcome with the sensuous feeling of euphoria.

‘These are fantastic Prey!’ I smiled, grabbing hold of him, then for no reason except that I felt like it, I began hugging him, unsure as to why! All I knew is that it felt good to be doing so. Before realising it we were all dancing and hugging each other.

‘I told you so… I told you,’ Steve laughed, watching the effects of the pills he’d transferred, as they took control of all of us.

‘I feel well sound,’ Prey laughed at me; his face was perspicuous with joy. ‘I haven’t felt anything like this before.’

‘No way… look at them go,’ I said, pointing into the crowd where Dougsy had distributed the pills. You had lads who were normally scowling at each other genuinely hugging each other without a single care in the world. ‘Shit, check that out Prey. Ain’t that Paddy and Chris?’ I was nodding towards the edge of the dance floor where we could clearly see the two of them.

‘Fuck,’ laughed Prey. ‘Would you fuckin’ believe that shit Chopper? If I didn’t know better you’d have thought the two of them were gay.’

It was true. The two of them were hugging and kissing everybody around them. We knew that it was only the effects of the pills they had been given – but it really was a sight to behold. ‘I think that Paddy is freaking some of the Salford lads out Prey.’

‘In’it Chopper,’ smiled Prey shaking his head. ‘If only we had a camera right now. What a picture that would make eh. I don’t think that anybody would believe us if we told them we saw Paddy hugging people.’

‘Yeah,’ I laughed. ‘They’d be like ‘I know Paddy the crazy fuck - he's always hurting people.’’ We were both laughing at the sight of this for it honestly had to be seen to be believed.

‘No way,’ Jonah pointed to the stage area breaking through our laughter. ‘Check Sean out,’ he laughed. Sean was jumping up and down grabbing everybody; he was enjoying himself to so much. He wanted to meet everyone who was also dancing around him. Even they seemed to be enjoying themselves more than they already were just at the way he was carrying on… What a night this was.

Dougsy came over. ‘What the fuck are these things you’ve give me? They feel proper sound. Have you seen everybody I give’em to? They’re going mad out there. They all keep thanking and hugging me. Even that fuckin nutter Paddy has hugged me. It’s well fuckin’ mad… It really is,’ he announced, laughing.

As the night came to a close, we all returned back to our flat. Kezlo started up on the decks. Scotty had been missing the last couple of days so had missed out on the experience of that evening. He’d been doing this more and more lately. Not that it concerned us, as he was usually off with some girl somewhere.

Steve had another bag full of the E’s. So we all enjoyed each others company until the early hours of the morning.

They were good times. Ecstasy - Proper Es had arrived. It felt like we’d tasted the future that night.