At the stroke of one in the morning, the guy fell over without warning and broke his plate in half. It was time to go home. Sonia paid the bill by getting some cash out of the pockets of his sport coat, and we dragged him outside. It was hard, given the state we were in, but once outside he got a little life back in him, and that helped. Even so, we had to stop at each streetlight to get our wind back. We were hot. Sonia stood in front of him while we took a breather. He was wobbling on his legs-Oh baby, she said, my poor little baby. I wondered if they hadn’t parked on the other side of town.

Finally she opened the door of a hot new sedan with a ten-foot hood and we dumped her little baby inside. Sonia kissed us good night quickly, anxious to get home and put something on his head. We watched them start up. We waved. The thing took off into the night like the Loch Ness monster.

After a while we found our VW. I wanted to drive. To drive like I wanted, I needed something truly responsive-high beams by the row, a hundred miles per hour in no time flat, smooth as butter-I HAD to drive.

“You sure you’re going to make it?” Betty asked.

“I assume you’re joking. Nothing the matter with me.”

I got through town without a hitch. There weren’t many people out. It was a real joyride, except that once in a while the engine freaked out and the VW jumped forward.

The night was black. The headlights swept the road ahead and there was nothing-just the pale lights of a dancing road sign. I had to lean into the windshield to see.

“You get a load of this fog?” I said.

“I can’t see anything. What are you talking about?”

“Remind me to adjust the headlights. This is the pits.”

I followed the white line, putting the left front wheel right on it. After a while something intrigued me. I knew the road well, there wasn’t the least turn in it, no curves at all, but now, very gently, almost imperceptibly, the goddamn little white line was going off to the left, bending incomprehensibly. I opened my eyes wider and wider.