Waltz of Her Life

Lauren shook her head. "We're meeting them at the Coliseum," she said. "They wanted to get there early, to try to get a good seat."

"Get a good seat? What? Don't these tickets have seat numbers on them?"

"No. Jeannie and Greg said that when the doors open, everybody just runs to find the best seat they can, until the whole place fills up. They can get more people in there that way."

"That's insane!" Linda said.

The anticipation of reaching their destination and seeing the spectacular concert helped the remaining miles fly by. Soon, Linda and Lauren in Myrtle the green Volkswagen putt-putted across the Ohio River and exited into a maze of side streets near the Coliseum. With a sinking sense of dread, Linda saw droves of people their age filling the sidewalks and parking lots with signs reading "Park Here - $5."

"Oh, this is not good," Linda murmured.

"What's wrong?"

She sighed. "We can't afford to pay five dollars and have gas to get home, too."

She smacked herself on the forehead lightly with the heel of her palm. "I can't believe we didn't think of that before."

"No problem," Lauren said, waving a hand dismissively. "Greg said we can park by the river for free."

After a few more turns and a scoot beneath an overpass, they arrived at a cobblestone paved area that curved downward to the river. Other cars streamed into there, and Linda found a space beside a dingy van that belched smoke. As they got out of the car and locked it, Lauren glanced at the gray waters of the Ohio, just a scant few yards beyond. "This isn't by the river. It's on the river."

Lauren grabbed her arm and led her toward the wall opening and the sidewalk outside.

"Don't be such a worrywart," she said. They blended into the swarms of people walking toward the coliseum but Linda could not help but look back toward the river and the cobblestones. She imagined the river rising and sweeping away Myrtle, carrying her down toward Louisville.

Though daylight savings time had arrived the weekend before the day was quickly fading into violet night and all the streetlights had tripped on. Linda looked down at her watch and saw that it read six o'clock. The trip took just under six hours, the way she thought it would. "I can't believe how late we are," Lauren said, as she sped up. "We're supposed to meet them at the top of the stairs over there." She pointed straight ahead.