wave of light panic raced through me and I quickly turned back to my drink.
    Did I have my papers on me?
    I couldn't remember grabbing my passbook before leaving the apartment. But my mind's eye was drunk and refused to create a mental picture. Or at least one that I might actually buy as The Truth.
    I wanted to reach down and touch my pocket to see if it was there, but I was afraid that act might cause her to actually ask to see them.
    Christ, I thought. What was a polinarc hanging out at rave for anyway? Didn't they have bigger game to catch?
    She was suddenly beside me.
    Damn, I thought. Here it comes. I wonder how long I'll be in the tank this time.
    "Hey," she said just barely enough for me to hear. I thought about ignoring her for about a nanosecond, but why aggravate the situation?
    I looked at her face, still beautiful, still plain. I tried to seem unfazed --unaware of what was probably going to happen.
    She bit her lip at the corner, folding it under a sliver of white teeth turned florescent from the black lights. Her eyes were dark, but they weren't brown --I couldn't place it. I felt the fear of being arrested evaporating as I looked at her.
    "This is kind of odd," she said. "And I don't mean it like a come-on, but," she paused, biting her lip again briefly. "Would you buy me a drink?"
    I could feel a wide smile break out across my face. It was mostly from relief, but she was damn cute.
    "Sure," I said and reached to my back pocket. As I pulled for my wallet, I could feel my passbook there too and I felt about a hundred times better. Even if she did turn out to be an agent, I was totally legit.
    I waved at the bartender, a muscular guy in biker leather, and he came over.
    "You want a beer or something stronger?" I asked.
    "Vodka and grapefruit?" she asked me and the bartender.
    "O.J., okay?" he said from behind some dark sunglasses.
    She smiled like she was remembering something pleasant, "Orange juice would be just fine."
    He made a quick nod and moved down to the set of coolers at the opposite end and threw them open while grabbing a plastic cup.
    She was looking at me.
    "I'm really sorry. I just don't have any money." she said apologetically.
    It suddenly occur to me that I was being used. That pretty girls don't actually come up and talk to guys sitting alone at the bar and that I must have looked pathetic. But it also occurred to me that I didn't actually care. She was pretty and she might have little to do with me otherwise. So I get to talk to her for ten minutes until she's done with the vodka and O.J. and she "suddenly spies" her friends. I just didn't care.
    "It happens," I said looking at her face, her features. Her black hair was slightly running over her face, obscuring her eyes. She was facing me at about three-quarters of an angle. Still able to look out across the dance floor and talk to me. That knapsack clung to her back like a wayward monkey, the straps pulling at her shoulders, the bulk of it just swinging off the makeshift stool.     "My name is Myra," she said, pronouncing it a little like mirror.
    "Jack," I said.
    She smiled at me again, still warm and friendly. Much more than I would expect from someone scamming a drink out of me.
    The bartender returned with the drink and I handed over a five. He looked at and put it over a light to verify it's authenticity.
    "Thanks," she said taking a big swig from the clear plastic cup.
    The bartender came back with a couple of dollars and I left one behind.
    When the cup came down, she swirled her tongue around the inside of her mouth, bulging out her cheeks. There was a slight smile still there.
    "You really enjoying the O.J., huh?" I said.
    Her smile turned into a smirk and she regarded me. "It's been awhile since I had a good drink, I guess."
    I nodded slightly, I didn't want to come off as an asshole so I tried to keep from saying anything else sarcastic.
    "You always carry around a knapsack full of bricks?"
    I said I was trying, I didn't say I was successful.