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JULY 1977

"What do you do?" the wonus said

"Are you in fashion? You look like you’re in fashion"

"No," he said "I am fashion"

It was a bit of a twee reht his seat companion on the plane The co seeht his colass, her own hair, everyone else’s hair, the barf bag

The plane had been in the air for only an hour, but Magnus’s cootten up to use the restrooedher nose and visibly twitching Now she was leaning over hilass, her neck reeking of Eau de Guerlain The faint trace of white powder still clung to her nose

He could have done this trip in seconds by stepping through a Portal, but there was so, inti people

"But your outfit?" she said "What is it?"

Magnus looked down at his red-plaid-and-black-vinyl oversize suit with a shredded T-shirt underneath It was au courant for the London punk set, but New York wasn’t quite there yet

"I do PR," the wo the question "For discos and clubs The best clubs Here Here"

She dug around in her arettes She shoved one of these between her lips, lit it, and continued digging until she produced a small tortoiseshell card case She popped this open and picked out one card, which read: ELECTRICA

"Co, red nail "Co Soooo much better than Studio 54 Oh Excuse me a second You want?"

She showed him a small vial in the pal out of the seat again, her purse bunus’s face as she went back to the bathrooain They went through these phases Noas cocaine He hadn’t seen this much of the stuff since the turn of the century, when they’d been putting it in everything--tonics and potions and even Coca-Cola He thought for a while that they’d put this drug behind thes had never interested Magnus A good wine, absolutely, but he steered clear of potions and powders and pills You didn’t take drugs and doHopelessly, relentlessly boring Drugs made them either too slow or too fast, and ruesome process--or they died There was never a step in between

Like all mundane phases, this too would pass Hopefully soon He closed his eyes and decided to sleep his way across the Atlantic London was behind hinus got his first reminder of why he’d summarily left New York two summers before New York was too darees, and the sasses that hung around this far tip of the city The sh he joined a taxi line

The cab was as co driver added to the general perfunus’s outfit

"Corner of Christopher and Sixth Avenue"