My friends and I in the ’60’s never went “on to” (marijuana is a gateway drug, my ass!) cocaine, heroin or so called “hard” stuff, but anything psychedelic was fair game. A high school friend, Craig, and I read that morning glory seeds could get you high. They were probably poisonous as well. That did not stop us. There was an old-fashioned feed and seed store called OK Feed, right in the middle of South Miami. Years later they were an employee benefit client of mine! It was at the intersection of Dixie Highway and Red Road. It had been there since the Twenties.

They sold flower seed in bulk. There was a wall covered by long narrow wooden drawers filled with seed. They had turned dark with age. The store inside was very dimly lit. We asked for “Heavenly Blue”. The white ones were called Pearly Gates! Were the names a clue to their purpose here on earth? We were determined to find out! He wanted to know how much, a

n ounce, two ounces?

“We’ll take the whole drawer!”

He looked at us real funny but emptied the drawer into a paper sack. We went back to my house. I had bought an old-fashioned cast-iron coffee grinder for just this purpose at the flea market. We’re in the kitchen grinding it up, pancake batter at the ready. My mother walks in.

“What are you doing?”

“Making pancakes.”

“In the middle of the afternoon?”

“We were hungry.”

She pointed to the bag of seeds and asked what it was.

“Seasoning.”

I don’t know what she thought but she left us alone. It didn’t work. Our quest for a legal, cheap easily obtainable high continued.