Saving Elijah

time. For that matter, we're all stoned all the time." He laughed. "Maybe she was into it, and I just misunderstood."

    *    *    *

    When Jay went back up on stage for his last scene, Seth sat down in the seat he'd left empty. "I thought Rich was going to drown me in spit. What were you two talking about?"
    My heart started to pound again. "Why? What's the difference?"
    "Jay's been trying to get into your pants since I introduced you, babe. I see the way he looks at you."
    "Seth, he doesn't look at me like anything."
    "Don't be naive."
    "I am not." A boy. Jealous of me. How about that, Charlotte?
    He gripped my arm. "What did he say?"
    "We talked about how much you hate your father." I was afraid to tell him I brought it up, and I wasn't even sure why I was afraid.
    Seth glared at me for a moment, breathing hard, a flush rising in his neck and face. At first I thought I was seeing him embarrassed for the first time since I'd known him. Then I realized he was boiling mad.
    "Big fucking deal, I told you that." He glared up on the stage at Jay, who caught his eye, then looked away.
    "We should talk about it more, Seth. Maybe I could help."
    He began to laugh. "You want to help me? Well, now, that is cute." His laughter became so loud that the actors on stage heard it. A few of them glared at him.
    The director called out, "Get it together, Lucien." Why did everyone call him Lucien?
    He stopped laughing. "Sorry, Allison." Back to me. "Help?" he whispered. "How about I bring you home, and my old man'll give you a good fuck."
    "Seth!"
    "Think I'm being crude?" he whispered. "He just got married, you know. Third time. She's only three years older than you are, he's pushing fifty, just loves the young flesh, younger the better. I figure my next stepmother will be maybe fourteen."
    I had never heard such lethal bitterness.
    He leaned over and began to kiss me, hard. I could feel the teeth of his fury, and I thought he was going to swallow me.
    "Allison, would you do something!" Gabby stood glaring as we pulled apart. "Do you think you can ask our first-row lovers to give us just a little break?"
    "Lucien, you are on thin ice!" Allison said. "A little professionalism, please."
    I jumped up and started to collect my things. "I'll just go, anyway."
    He caught hold of my arm. "They're all bullshit, sit down, for Christ's sake."
    I shrank into my seat, not wanting to extend the spectacle any longer. Seth leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Oh, yeah, Allison. This dinky college bullshit is real professional. Might as well be Broadway."

    *    *    *

    The party was already in full swing. All manner of ghosts and witches were jammed up against each other on every floor of the narrow Georgetown house, along with one Einstein, two Beatles, four Marx Brothers, including Zeppo, and at least five Nixons. One showoff was naked, sucking on a baby bottle, and wearing only a sheet drawn up between his legs and fastened around his waist with huge blue safety pins. I thought I saw another, bigger baby, this one in red Dr. Denton's with feet, but then I saw him toss three red balls into the air and heard him refer to himself as a Juggler Vein.
    Seth came dressed as Mephistopheles, of course. Though he never would have admitted it, he was very into his good looks, always took a lot of time in the bathroom, getting dressed, brushing his long silky hair. That night he took extra care. Horns, a false goatee, hair streaming down his back, red cape, the whole bit. He also brought his movie camera with him that night. As Lachesis, the Fate who measures off people's lives, I wore a gown of black silk Seth had borrowed from the Playmakers, and carried a rope and a scissors. I was self-conscious in the gown, but got into my part. Seth followed me around, filming, as I made pronouncements: "Patty, you will have a long and happy life, and marry a doctor from Chevy Chase. And you, Rich, won't last the night."
    There was dancing, drinking, marijuana. We made our way to the second floor of the house, where furniture had been pushed aside to make room for dancing. Seth took his camera into the middle of the dance floor to film the action, leaving me alone with Jay.
    "You haven't told me my fate," Jay said.
    I said he would meet a mysterious woman and live to the ripe old age of ninety-one.
    He laughed. "I shouldn't have told you what I told you this afternoon. It's really not my business, Dinah." Then he moved away.
    Around midnight, our group, Jay,