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Show 29 when she excused herself to go to the ladies' room to comb her hair. "Of course," he said. He noticed she had left her cup, which still had ice in it, on her chair. That was something, he had to admit. It was like asking him to save her place. He watched the ice in her cup change colors for a while, and then he watched the remaining couples on the floor as the spotlight fell on them--there was an elimination going on--and presently, when he looked again, he noticed the chunks of ice were smaller now, and floating. If she came back and found he hadn't moved she would probably think he didn't have anybody else to talk to. He got another cup of punch and strolled, sipping it, his unoccupied hand feeling the plastic chip in his pocket, over to where Mark Hudson and Roger Swedlow and Mike Dorman were talking with their girl friends. He stood as close as he thought was polite, on the side that gave him a clear view of the canopied doorway to the powder room. They were talking about Ezra Taft Benson and the farm problem, which Lorin didn't really understand, though he was uneasy hearing Apostle Benson criticized. The three girls were clearly bored. Sue Jensen smiled sympathetically at him. He raised his eyes heavenward and shook his head. He thought Sue had always kind of liked him. It was hard to follow the conversation through all the noise, hut presently the music stopped and there was loud clapping and whistling at the far end of the ballroom. Lorin looked at the couple bathed in the remote spotlight, holding hands and obviously embarrassed as Bill Fairfield and Ginger Cowley ran up to them with a pair of gift-wrapped boxes, one of them shaped like a heart. Bill said something into the microphone that Lorin couldn't understand, and flung his arm toward the couple, and everyone applauded again. Lorin glanced at the bandstand and saw the musicians had already climbed down. The bass was left tilted against the piano like a drunk. Most of the players were heading for the street door, lighting |