Waltz of Her Life

It was true. At several parties they'd attended during the year Linda tried grass. She mostly wanted to see what all the fuss was about. She'd gagged on the harsh smoke, then giggled a lot before falling asleep Here, in this scary coliseum with the nightmarish happenings, she wanted to keep awake and alert "I have to drive later. I don't think I should."

"Aw, just a little won't hurt," Greg persisted.

"We'll see."

Seth carried a small contraption that looked like a skinny radio. With the precision of a chemist, he placed a small white paper along some fabric rollers and dropped grains from Greg's stash onto it. He twisted a couple of knobs on the side of it and moments later produced a perfectly rolled cigarette, a joint. Greg took the joint from Seth and lit it, smiling pleasantly as the coal ember on the end of it glowed when he inhaled.

Seth immediately began work on a second joint, painstakingly dropping the grains inside the machine and twisting the knobs. The first joint was passed from Greg, to Jeannie and then to Lauren, who held it out in front of Linda. "No, I really don't think so," Linda said, accepting the joint and passing it on to Greg.

Her four friends had begun to talk silly, as if they'd inhaled laughing gas at the dentist's office. She gazed around at her surroundings, noticing a haze in the air, drifting up toward the catwalks and rafters above. Jazzy music with heavy guitar played on the arena sound system and a beach ball bounced around from section to section. When the floor had filled with kids like them, the seats in the first two tiers quickly began to fill up. To Linda it looked like an ever-changing kaleidoscope.

Lauren, who sat beside her, at one point drew in hard on a joint and turned to Linda, blowing the smoke out at her. Linda laughed, waving the smoke away.

"Loosen up!" Lauren said. "We're gonna see Led Zeppelin!" She excitedly grabbed Linda by her shoulders and shook her as she bounced up and down. As if the arena director had been acting on Lauren's cue, the lights dimmed. Thousands of people inside the building let out a thunderous victory cheer as everyone around them sprang to their feet. A giant metal ball Linda had seen on the stage loomed toward them, not rolling, but moving forward as though it had been on tracks. Neon hued spotlights shined on it.

A public address announcer's voiced boomed from the loudspeakers: "Ladies and Gentlemen! Coming to you all the way from the Carpathian mountains, will you give a warm welcome for the death-defying Kasparovs!"