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It was the Kappa Kappa Psi party, which was a eeks always kne to throw a bitchen party Four of us froram crashed the scene- Leho came on the arm of some miniature brunette flute player; and Paula Keaton, Ed Hernandez, andfor free drinks and the slili to his flute player but not looking very comfortable; he didn&039;t drinkpretty well

Flute Girl eventually got swept away on a tide of Everclear punch, and Leas left to ramble around on his own He kneas there-I think- but we didn&039;t hook up If we hadwell Water, bridges, et cetera

Souy&039;s drink Pretty stupid reason for what happened, but the reason ceased to matter after the third or fourth round of insults, and suddenly there were six of the Two of the hi around at the party, I was frozen in shock, cold beer in hand Violence happens so quickly Unless it&039;s you taking the beating, it takes time for it to sink in, especially when alcohol&039;s involved If you&039;re an onlooker, reaction co yourself why the hell you didn&039;t do anything to help

It couldn&039;t have been long as serious beatings go, et really fucked up in sixty seconds when it&039;s a free-for-all, six on one About the tiuys at the party realized they should be doing soot kicked in the head and he rolled on his side toward me, and I saw his face

Bloody Scared to death Desperate

He reached out to ; he reached out towardfor its mother

The Mother Of Us All reached back

I felt poeep over-out of asp around me, felt water drops pulled off my skin and my beer bottle by the sheer power of his call

The wind hit with the force of a freight train It was targeted, specific, and it was hungry I felt its tugging passage, but it barely ruffled my hair; it slammed into the six frat boys and picked the lot, into the side of a brick building, and pinned theround

Nobody except those who study weather really understands the incredible nature of wind A fifty-ust is more than twice as powerful as that because of the increased pressure per square inch A ninety-e boys were crushed by, at h to fracture bones from the sheer force of the i on the, as I looked at this incredible display of power, My God, he&039;s going to squeeze them into jelly, but in the next second Lewis blinked and the wind died and they fell thirty feet to the grass

Chaos followed Lewis lay on the ground, gasping for air, staring at es, I hurried over to him, hunkered down, and puthot

"Jesus, Lewis, you called the wind," I blurted "You&039;ve got everything Everything"

He just ed to nod He probably didn&039;t understand exactly what it ot there before five minutes was out, and he was loaded into an ambulance accompanied by three of thefuriously about what had just happened

He looked afraid And woozy I keep thinking that if I&039;d done so to his would have been different

But, realistically, probably not

I drove for about half an hour before I decided the radio wasn&039;t going to make any more mystical-musical pronouncements I fished the cell phone one-handed out of my purse and checked the battery level Two bars No chance of recharging; I hadn&039;t had tiiene, h the nue therapist Ah Estrella Al for

I punched the speed dial and waited through the clicks and rings, lots of rings, before a sleep-mashed voice mumbled, "This had better be important"

"Kinda," I said, with as ,bean"

She cleared her throat I could just see her dragging a hand through ot your salsa right here, biht am on the East Coast"

"Yeah, that&039;s like six here You know, big hand on the six, only you can&039;t see it &039;cause it&039;s dark? What, they don&039;t teach you ti Static clawed the line "I guess you want soeous -"

"Bank account," she finished "So is, you&039;ll probably get it Meanwhile, I get to listen to your wet drea"

I downshifted and drafted behind a se ass in the fast lane With cars like as prices, it pays to conserve all the fuel you can The Mustang shuddered fro before we settled into the slipstream, then purred out her pleasure

Soed what sounded like metal around, dropped the phone, picked it up "It&039;s your diot until one whether you&039;re finished or not"

"Places to see, people to do?"

She snorted "Chica, you ought to cut down on the crack I got no place to be and nobody to do, as usual" That was closer to the truth than either of us wanted to explore

"Then this would be good news: I&039;uarded "What&039;s wrong?"

"Wrong? Why would it be wrong?" I thwacked myself on the forehead Estrella-Star, to her friends- knew ht? You-leave a life of topless beaches and hot hard bodies to vacation in Oklahoed the word through three syllables "How long has it been?"

"Um " I couldn&039;t remember "A year?"

"Try two"

"Hey, I keep in touch Don&039;t forget the phone calls Or the Christmas cards"

"The Christmas cards show up in February," she said Okay, she had a point, I wasn&039;t exactly the most reliable friend in the world "So what&039;s the deal, Jo? You need crash space?"

"Maybe Well Yeah" I heard her pouring liquid into a"I should be there in a couple of days You think I can stop in, maybe just catch a shower and so, ood, not the local roach factory"

Star sipped coffee I was desperately jealous; ht "Tell you what, you maybe show up, I&039;ll oing to be any trouble, like you were in last time"

"That was so not my fault Tornadoes are a perfectly natural phenoo for vacation"

"Hey, we live la vida loca around here, girlfriend So Why are you really co out to the ass-end of nowhere?"

"It&039;s not the ass-end of nowhere And besides, you&039;re there" I winced again That sounded suspiciously like whatfat You&039;re not fat- you&039;re o on a diet

"ActuallyI wasn&039;t being co I have to find somebody It&039;s important"

"Somebody around here?"

"Last I heard, he was somewhere close" I was reluctant to say the naht; she knew everybody and everything that went on in that part of the world "Um, it&039;sLewis"