The Drawers of Perception (aka The Japanese Bombers)

Every Monday morning Hidetoshi took my smelly old canvas pack and marched downtown to buy seven bottles of Clan MacGregor at $7.99 a pop, then return to campus where he laid six of them side-by-side in his top dresser drawer.

When I headed to class, he would be at the kitchen table with the seventh liter, a pack of Marlboro, a tumbler and a stack of books.

When I came home, he’d be sprawled out naked on the floor.

At breakfast he’d ceremoniously place the empty bottle into his bottom drawer, and take a fresh one. 

He never did say what was in the center drawer.

Nor did he ever discuss this voluntary sequestration from the world either. He just let me know that when I found out for myself, the pack would hold 14 bottles, and we could trade the load every block or two.

And he was right.