The smell of smoke, perfume and liquor permeated the air. The band was close to the end of their first set.I pulled up a seat at the end of the row, a...nd peered into the main floor. It was dimly lit and the corners were almost black. Being that it was Friday, the interior was crowded with people - guys and gals - seated around the tables. Conversations were buzzing under the blasting music.I ordered a beer and began to look around and see if there was anyone I knew, or might want to get to. As soon as they were mixed, they started to expand and Riley shoved my arm down into the mess. I fought off a moment of panic as I felt the pressure build around my arm. No! Nothing is collapsing on me. It’s just pressure on my arm!“It’s a ... weird feeling,” I said, forcing calm on my breathing.“Yes. I almost didn’t get out of it the first time I did a casting. Tried to do a hump for the Hunchback of Notre Dame in college and didn’t have an assistant. It solidified while I was bent over in. Unfortunately, the next bogey in line was lucky, too. The leader let fly with what might have been his entire load of ammunition, since he just kept firing until his guns seized up. The bogey pilot kicked his rudder back and forth, trying to get a good hit on the Hawk. Finally, he connected, and put bullets through the Hawk pilot's lungs. The Hawk pilot reported what had happened before he was able to get lined up properly to ram head on into his opponent. The Hawk pilot now had two bogeys to. "Hey, Kyle. How much longer?" she said through a yawn."Only three hours," I told her."Cool. Hey, last night I was thinking, and it's totally cool if you'renot up to it, but what do you think of experimenting with thatmedallion?" she said, blushing. It looked like she had something on hermind that she wasn't telling me."I don't know, Vanessa. This whole thing is really weird. And what do youmean 'experimenting'?" Well, I was thinking that since this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance thatwe could.