Continued. Bradford, The Murder Of Mr. H.

So here we were at the end of the fall session at Alabama. I had not done the work to pass school. In fact I didn't even bother with some of my final exams. I spent my time chasing women and doing drugs. I was quite successful at both. Otha and I had planned a two-week trip to Jamaica to visit his brother who was living there. The day before we left, Vicky Valas and I decided to spend the afternoon at Lake Tuscaloosa. Vicky was a Greek gal from Mobile. She was a stunning brunette with an hourglass body. She was Otha's girlfriend at the time. However, it was hard to really say Otha had girlfriends; more like conquests. Otha and Vicky had a terrible fight the night before which would end their relationship. Vicky and I had become real close friends. We both knew that we were falling in love.

Rock cliffs surround Lake Tuscaloosa, a man-made lake. We spent a lot of time at The Lake hiking, swimming, and jumping off cliffs. Vicky and I dropped some LSD when we arrived and started our hike to the far caves several miles around the lake. By the time we arrived at the caves, she and I were tripping our brains out. "Why does Otha have to be that way?" she asked. "I hate him for that." "I'm sorry it's turned out like this," I answered. "You know she said, I'm messed up," she explained as she began an uncontrollable giggle. I laughed with her. "Far out," was all I said. We began to play in the dirt of the cave. LSD can give you hallucinations. However, it had gotten to where it was more like speed and just wears you out, especially this windowpane acid.

There was a moment in the cave where we just held each other and stared into each other's eye. I kissed her. She responded. "I don't know what got into me. I know your Otha's girl and I'm his best friend," I said. She leaned in and said, "I've had the wrong guy," She pushed my long hair out of my face and kissed me again more passionately.

When we arrived back at her dorm, Otha and Randy were waiting on us. Randy was from Southern Illinois and one of the managers of the football team. He said that he wanted to show us where he worked before we all left for the semester.  After cleaning up we met Otha and Randy in the dorm lobby. Otha and Randy had also been tripping, so the four of us began our adventure.

Otha and Vicky lingered behind and got into some more arguments. I was feeling guilty about what had happened, but also feeling jealousy. I felt insecure that Vicky would just go back to him. When we arrived at Alabama football practice field, it was dark. We went through the gate and on to the practice field. Otha started running like he was playing football. We all joined in. Then Otha without any concern started stripping off his clothes right there in the dark. We all followed suit and we were all standing butt naked with just enough light to see how beautiful Vicky really was.

Bear Bryant had a tower that he stood in during practice so he could observe the whole team. We climbed the tower and sat there naked and discussed how the world changes. "You know this is far out," Randy said. "It's cool," I said. You reckon Nixon is going to get it." Randy said he wanted to show us the coliseum, so we all got dressed and headed through the tunnel to Coleman Coliseum. Randy had all the keys. Once inside we ventured to the athletic offices and actually went into Bear's office. He had boxes of hounds-tooth hats. I guess he gave them away as souvenirs. I looked on his desk and saw several plays that were outlined that looked to be illegal. Anyway to get an advantage. We climbed up the ladders to the arena lighting systems and hung out for a while over the basketball court. When we left, Vicky went home with me. I don't believe Otha has ever forgiven me for that. But the only thing he said to me was that our friendship was worth more than any woman.