Diary of a Drug Fiend

318 The Diary of a Drug Fiend It was not merely the curious customs that stimulated our imaginations ; there was an indefinable atmosphere about the place and the people which left us at a loss. The mixture of simplicity and elegance was in itself bizarre but still more so was the combination of absolute personal liberty with what was evidently in some ways a rather severe discipline. The automatic regular- ity with which everything was done seemed to imply an almost Prussian routine. Lou saw the point at once, and with her usual frank- ness asked Sister Athena outright to explain it. “Thank you for reminding me,” said Sister Athena. “The Big Lion said you had better rest. Suppose you lie down in the studio. I know you don’t want to go to sleep, but we can talk there just as well as we can here. So you’d better make yourselves comfortable while I explain our funny little ways.” The arrangements for repose were as primitive as everything else. The studio was furnished with narrow mattresses on steel springs on the floor. They were covered with comfortable cushions. We threw ourselves down with a certain hesitation; but immediately discovered that we were much more at home than if we had been at a higher elevation. It made the room seem larger, and the sensation of rest was more in evidence. There was a sort of finality about being so low, and it was certainly much more convenient to have our drinks and cigarettes on the floor than on a table. We found out that we had always gone about the world with a subconscious fear of knocking things over. I began to understand why a picnic on the grass gives such a sense of freedom. It was the absence of a worry which had annoyed us none the less because we had not been aware of it. Sister Athena stretched herself out on a folding chair, also very low. It was no trouble for her to pick up her glass from the ground. “ About what you asked,” she began, ‘“‘ it’s perfectly true that we have vanadium steel discipline in this