NEW ORLEANS

   Well we were getting tired of shooting crack every day in Austin so we decided we were going to head to New Orleans. We had to jump back on the I-35 south to go back to San Antonio so we could get back on I-10. We’d stopped in San Antonio, on the way to Austin and on the way back, but just for a minute.I don’t remember much about there from those times except I thought it was a really nice city with the river with the river running through downtown and also seeing the Alamo and thinking about that movie Pee Wee’s big adventure.

  Fuck! Texas was huge. I’m not sure how long it took us to get to Houston. Maybe a day or so. We stopped for the day in Houston.This city has a weird vibe and it was kind of scary there. It probably took us another day or so to get to New Orleans. I had heard nothing about this city and thought it was just another normal city. Little did I know!

  It was one day before Halloween ‘97 when I stepped foot in the French Quarter and onto Bourbon street. I was in love right away. There were people everywhere drinking and they looked like they were having the time of their life. When I first went to New Orleans, it was legal to drink on Bourbon street but not anywhere else in the French Quarter. A few years later, as long as you were in the French Quarter you could drink right out of a 60 oz bottle if you wanted. Syd told me that Lance would not come to New Orleans. Why? Because it’s famous for the cops arresting you for bullshit and if you have a backpack they will single you out hard. I’m pretty sure they still have Napoleonic law here, which means they can make up a charge on the spot. I was there two days before the cops had seen me ask someone for a smoke and busted me for begging. They gave me three days for it. A few nights later,when I got out, I was sitting on Bourbon street, drinking with this kid, and four drunk ass tourists come stumbling by. One of them was wearing high heels and she slipped, ate shit and dropped her purse right in front of me. So I decided, I want to smoke some crack! I jumped up and grabbed her purse and took off across the street. Well I was so drunk that I ate shit while turning the corner right across the street from where I grabbed it from. FUCK! So they all came over yelling at me to give her purse back and the next thing I know there were five cops behind me, throwing me against the wall cuffing me.

  When you get arrested here they take you to the cop shop first to write up your charges before they bring you to Orleans Parish Prison (OPP), the county jail.I was at the cop shop for maybe 30 minutes and they charged me with battery on the girl and resisting arrest. Which I never did. When they were walking me out, to bring me to OPP, I was thinking that I was on felony charges so I was freaking out. I had one cop escort me that was a 6 '7, 300 pound black man. He happened to be in front of me and my left handcuff was on way too loose, so I decided I would take my chances to see if I could out run him. I slipped out of my cuff, spun around, turned, and ran. Well I guess it just wasn’t my night. He caught me like a half block away. He even dropped his radio.If I would have been able to out run him I probably would have gotten away since he wouldn’t have been able to call for backup. He took me back to the station and beat me. He also gave me two new charges; one for battery on a peace officer and the other for resisting arrest by flight. So now I am thinking I’m really fucked! I was super relieved when I got to the OPP and they gave me a yellow bracelet and not an orange one. Yellow ones are a misdemeanor while orange means felony charges. Oh, and a white bracelet means you’re totally fucked. Like capital murder fucked!

  You have four courts there for misdemeanor charges: A,B,C, and D. A and B are for morning court and the other two are for afternoon. I was told if you get court B (aka Mad Max’s Courtroom) to plead not guilty and take a 21 day set-back. I ended up having A court but plead not guilty anyway because I had four charges. So I took my 21 day set-back and when I went back to court I got time served. I was super lucky.

  Mad Max was a prick. No matter if it was your first time in trouble with the law, he would give you 30 days per charge, or you had the option of paying $120.00 per fine for the misdemeanor charges. If you didn’t have money, you sat. Money, money and more fuckin money. That’s what everything ever boils down to, right?

  Syd had come to court to see me get sentenced, so that was a nice surprise to see her after three weeks. She knew I was getting out later that night. And, like a good girl, she had lots of beer waiting for me and one of those ‘I miss you so much’ blow jobs! After we fucked she told me that she had cheated on me. I was upset but let it slide because I was happy to be out and to see her. I was like okay, I’ve been in New Orleans for almost two months and I’ve been in jail for 24 days of those two months. I’ve seen enough of this city for now, let’s head to Florida!