I Want To Study Its Habits

Loreena McKennitt: Kecharitomene



By this time the drink was
beginning to cut the acid
and my hallucinations
were down to a tolerable level.
The room service waiter
had a vaguely reptilian cast
to his features, but I was
no longer seeing huge
pterodactyls lumbering
around the corridors
in pools of fresh blood.
The only problem now was
a gigantic neon sign
outside the window,
blocking our view
of the mountains
---millions of colored balls
running around a very complicated track,
strange symbols and filigree,
giving off a loud hum....
"Look outside," I said.
"Why?"
"There's a big...
machine in the sky,...
some kind of electric snake...
coming straight at us."
"Shoot it," said my attorney.
"Not yet," I said.
"I want to study its habits."
--Hunter S. Thompson
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas