The cold air braced Vag; it made his steps brisk as he walked up Shepard St. and into the quad. Just to make sure, he reached into his inside pocket to see if the invitation was still there. It was: "You are cordially invited to attend an informal dance. See you there. O.K.! Joan S." This term was going to be different, starting that night. He would cement relations with Joan, meet a bevy of new girls, and never let another weekend go by. He was going to bow to the system from now on, even if it meant calling up a week and a half in advance.

Vag turned, carefully mounted the iey stops, and opened the door. After hanging up his coat, he walked towards the dimly lit living-room and the crowd of dancing figures. As he edged into the room the solemn, spaniel eyes of a plump girl, who was leaning against the wall, followed him. When Vag noticed her, she turned nonchalantly and began talking to another girl. A girl was coming toward him,; she was pretty and Vag decided to ask her to dance. He was about to do so when she asked him sweetly and energetically if he would like to meet someone. Vag noticed the hostess card on her blouse and the tall, bony girl with a small face and muted features who was following her. No, he said, he was just going to --. But he found himself introduced to the lanky girl, and asked her to dance. The loudspeaker leaked "It's Magic." They exchanged names and information about home towns, fields of concentration, and then danced silently for a long time. Stealthily, Vag wiped his moist palms between each dance. She did too. Finally the girl asked Vag what time it was and said she was supposed to meet a friend. Would he excuse her? Vag did.

He looked for Joan. She was sitting on one of the thin benches with a man on either side and two standing in front of her. They all seemed to be saying things that made her laugh. Slowly, he went past the bench into the other room where there was dancing. He got some cranberry punch from the table and sat down. He watched a girl while she danced with someone who steered into the corner where she would be less conspicuous. She had auburn hair, blue eyes and freckles; Vag stood up to see her while she danced away from view. He weaved through the elbows which swung out at him and went toward the couple. Just then someone else cut in, and Vag went back to the chair where he stood watching. He waited for what he thought was a minute and then went over and cut in. Her partner nodded passively and walked away, finishing his sentence. Vag introduced himself. He answered her questions, saying yes he was having a pretty good time at the dance, and then he felt a tap on his shoulder. Her first partner was back. Vag went to get his coat and leave. Tomorrow he would start auditing a GE course. That would kill two birds with one stone.