“

We stopped at the West Fourth Street Bookstore, where Artie picked up a load of little magazines. At Joe Papp’s Public Theater, we saw an interesting film, Over the Edge, in which spaced-out, bored teens vandalize a sterile Sun Belt planned community. Walking back to the subway, we passed the Guardian Angels’ Curtis Sliwa and his girlfriend and an actor from Another World.

“

Stacy took my Florida address and gave me a squeeze on the shoulder as she got off the bus. Her eyes were as light blue as they used to be, and I remembered how much I’d been attracted to her. She seemed to have turned out so well that I was pleased with myself for once loving her.

“

Mostly, Beth said, she’s attracted to teenage guys between 15 and 17. She’s rich and Jewish and drives a new car and has a bubbly, irrepressible spirit which reminds me of Shelli ten years ago. Beth is a virgin, but she’s talking about having an affair with me.

“

I felt wistful sharing my last dinner with my friends. Then we went over to the library, where Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and David Del Tredici played Mozart, Brahms and Beethoven on the violin and piano, respectively. The music was almost unbearably sweet, and it made me feel sad but good.

“

While Marc was cutting cocaine, Curt showed me pictures of Hawaii and the sappy “deep” books he’d given Rikki to read; they were by Hugh Prather and the guy who wrote Jonathan Livingston Seagull.