TGSNT, Part 6.
There was a great roar and then a terrible hush as the world collapsed in on me. The air had become solid flesh, and the only hope I had was to swim, harder and faster with each second, towards the dimming light. Stopping at any moment spelled disaster, like a salmon trying to cop the digits off a passing Evinrude.
Most college parties were like this for me, once midnight hit and there were ladies present. This one was an exception, though. D disappeared to brush her teeth again, and I struck out for the porch. Stein followed, like some kind of barely-post-pubescent Willy Wonka on reds, and we soon found ourselves in the thick of a Moment: The head of the local NOW chapter (a lovely young lady named Diane, who had once helped scrape me off the pavement on Fitch Street) was shoulder-to-elbow with the head of the Young Republicans (a man called Skip, who once dressed as Adam Ant in high school...after his brief and inexplicable stint in the Marines, he returned an arch-conservative.) Typically, I would expect blood and fire from these two, but the night air works wonders on even the most sincere idealogues. There were no enemies in the hazy trenches of Austin Street, only misunderstandings (like pulling your best Barry White on a sporting good's girl, unaware of his proximity) to be redressed.
One of those misunderstandings was behind me when I went into the bathroom, in fact.