That's hash in there Greg

 that's hash in there Greg

    During his time at Loyola University Greg made an unsual friendship with a teacher he had met "on the hill" and visited socially. Joyce Groff was an extremely intelligent but troubled closet lesbian who opened her apartment to us when we stumbled around desperately looking for something to do in the early 1970's. She took a shine to this handsome young student and hosted sundry social scenes with a variety of unusal guests who were mostly kind of square but nice. There was a Catholic tint to the gatherings but plenty of alcohol available with cigarettes burning in ash trays. Joyce had a perfectly nice roomate but never showed her any affection during our visits despite the fact they both worshipped at the alter of Sappho. Greg began bringing cousin Kent and me along since we also were searching for some connection to a social life outside of sitting home and blowing pot while complaining about our lack of female companions. Joyce offered a kind of possibilities-lite since once in a great while young women visited but you were never sure what side of the plate they batted from. It was often awkward for me as I was treated like an undergrad student since I was hanging out with an undergraduate Loyola student who happened to be my good bud Greg. I was like 23 and had graduated but spent lots of time with younger friends like Greg or Ed Carroll who at least were near the action of college and females. As the visits continued Joyce seemed to drink more and enjoy the company less. She was somewhat derisive of my opinions and was downright rude to the point of chasing me out a few times. In a reoccurring tragedy of the time she hated her gayness and that boiled over combined with alcohol. On a humorous note, Greg talked her and roomie into smoking some pot and I had brought along a new album by T-Rex (Electric Warrior) that was causing a stir on the pop music scene. They smoked, I  put on the LP and we sat entranced as the songs like "Mambo Sun, Jeepster, Cosmic Dancer and the undulating "Bang a Gong"  had the stoned crowd head bopping. They sat stunned for many minutes and then told Greg that it was the greatest music they had ever heard. The sentence that inspired this post however was uttered by a guest at the Groff pad. The man was a very innocent and gentle priest from somewhere in Indonesia and he was playing one of the board games Joyce hosted during this time.The game was Dare and it was used sometimes by teenagers like Truth or Dare to have an exccuse to kiss someone you liked. You could either answer any question with a truth answer or do what you were dared. The Priest was smoking a long and exotic pipe filled with tobacco as we sat in a circle and with his piping falsetto voice he said to my old pal "That's hash in there Greg" which was his idea of being outrageous. When you played the board game it might involve you taking off  your shirt or pants or drinking a beer in one gulp or kissing someone which was unlikely since the crowd was awkwardly shy men and lesbians, The priest was told to do something outrageous and left room, came back with a cup of water and sprinkled some over the guests while laughing uproariously. This was his idea  of outrageous! There is much more to this story but I will leave it here for the time being.