.11.

I shot Adam a look as if to say, I told you that you shouldn't have smoked away so much of the burnt offering. Now look what you've done!

He stared back at me with much less of the panic than I expected. That had all but melted away and in it's place was almost, you could say, amusement. Apparently Adam was on much better terms than I with the gods of cruel irony. It was as if he realized he had been caught with his hand inside the cookie jar, and instead of sheepishly cowering and begging for mercy he thrust his other hand in and ran off with double the booty.

Well, we had a good run at it, his face said. 'Had to end sometime, didn't it?
Yes, I thought, A good run. Now, just sit back and accept your fate. Walk the green mile with your head held high.

I was mentally preparing myself for what was to come, when Adam busts out laughing. Naturally, this draws a peculiar glance from the ladies. And me. With no regard to his volume or brazen accent he cried out, laughingly, "Ariel! Ariel!" Repeating the name of one of the blokes from last night.

"It's like Shakespeare. Who names their kid Ariel? He's a bloke, for cryin' out loud."
"I know," says I, having a good laugh and belting it just as loudly, "it's like that girlie mermaid thing. The cartoon."
"Like Shakespeare. Like the Tempest. Like... Mercutio. Horatio. Ariel!"
He laughed hysterically.
"Which one was bloody Ariel? I don't even know. I can't remember."
"I know. Who was he?"
"Was he the button lad?"

Oh, yes. We were going down in a blaze of fire that made the Hindenburg look like a sparkler.

The ladies were laughing right along with us, but my focus was behind us. I felt a disturbance in the force. I turned slightly. She was rising from her seat.

It was about to happen. The lever was about to be pulled; the axe about to fall. It was exhilarating.

Nothing happened.

I turned. Slowly.

She was walking toward the ladies room. As she disappeared behind the corner, our waitress appeared. Bringing our check. It was like our destruction and our salvation had just brushed against one another in an alternate dimension. And our salvation had one. And it was on it's way over to our table.