About four years after I left Straight, I went back to Austell Road. This would have been around 1986, and I actually went INTO the building. I'm laughing sitting here writing this, because I'm surprised I didn't get arrested or have a restraining order put on me or something. I really don't know why I wasn't escorted off the premises.
I took a friend with me, and I was really just going to drive by, but when we got there, I decided to pull into the parking lot. The next thing I knew, I was sticking my head in the door, asking some lame question about whether this was a doctor's office. There was a Mom at the desk, and she said no, that it was a drug rehab. She never picked up the phone to call anyone, and when I asked, she said I was welcome to take some of the brochures that were there. I have no idea whether the woman was clueless, or whether she just didn't see me as much of a threat. Or maybe they were watching me carefully as I got back in my car.
I was weirdly energized when I got back in the car, even though there was part of me that was afraid they were going to come running out and drag me back in the door.
Right now, that scene seems more surreal than anything that happened while I was *in* the program.