Cynthia nodded. "I no sooner get satisfied in one way that I'm hungry in another!"

They laughed and walked in to the kitchen where there was a buffet set to feed about one hundred people.

"Pot sure makes me famished," she said, helping herself to a sandwich.

"When are you going to try the 'real' thing," Carla asked.

"Try what?" she replied.

"Heroin… horse," she said, "Come on. I'll fix you up. It's really the greatest!"

Cynthia hesitated, not really sure whether or not she should get involved with something as strong as that. She had heard what it could lead to, but she needed something to make her feel better.

"How do you take it," she asked naively.

"You can sniff it, but a shot's the best," Carla replied. "Come on, I'll show you."

Carla took her by the arm and led her into a small room off the kitchen where several people were standing around watching another young man sterilize needles and boil the white powdery substance and pour it into a syringe.

Carla took a small capsule of heroin out of her pocket, opened it and sprinkled the white powder on a mirror, dividing it into several portions. She handed the mirror with a minute amount of powder on it to Cynthia.

"Here," she said. "Stop up one nostril and sniff this stuff with the other."

Cynthia reluctantly took the mirror into her hand, balancing it carefully.

"I understand that it can make you sick the first time," she said, still not sure whether or not she should try it.

"Sometimes it does," Carla continued, "but after that you're riding high. You have to start sometime!"

She bent over the mirror, following Carla's instructions and sniffed the loose heroin.

"Now, the other nostril," Carla said. She obeyed, taking the powder deep into her nose. It tickled her nostrils and she felt like she wanted to sneeze, but resisted the impulse.