Then Buq starts pulling my arm, and now the ground’s dry and I’m trying to run and put my shoes on at the same time. It’s crazy, we’re on these marble stairs going up to the front door of this place, that a minute ago had been a burned out McMansion.

Everyone was dressed up. The men in white ties and tails, and the women in incredible gowns. They were really old styles, but they looked amazing.

Some guy in a red military jacket was ringing a little bell, and everyone was giving the waiters their champagne glasses and heading towards the theater doors.

Buq held my hand and kept whispering “act natural,” whatever the hell that meant, and when the guy in the military jacket looked down the hall to ring his bell, Buq pulled me through the doors and we sat down in seats on the aisle.

As soon as we did, the lights went down and the orchestra started.