“Let’s stick to anywhere west of Central Park. I have no desire to run into Grey Navez or Judy Tremont,” Adrienne told Samantha. “I’m just not equipped for it.”

“How about a Japanese restaurant on Columbus, the kind with a four-course meal for fifteen dollars?” Samantha asked. “Judy Tremont definitely won’t be there.”

“You want me to meet you at Teriyaki Boy?” Adrienne laughed.

“All right, let’s go to McDonald’s,” Samantha suggested.

“No, fifteen-dollar sushi on Columbus it is,” Adrienne agreed.

During their entire meal the two friends never mentioned a word about Barry or Paul. Adrienne had all the latest news on Judy Tremont’s last dinner party, to which she supposedly had the parents from all the “best families” at Spence over to her house. The school found out about it and demanded that Judy write an apology to every uninvited parent. Samantha and Adrienne drank four sakes and split a green tea ice cream. As they walked out of the restaurant Adrienne took Samantha’s arm.

“Thank you for coming, honey. This is the best time I’ve had in forever. Walk with me to the crosstown bus.”

“Did you just say the word ‘bus’?” Samantha stopped.

“I’m doing a little experiment. It’s just in case I end up selling makeup at Lord ’n’ Taylor and taking the bus there every morning,” Adrienne quickly answered.

“That won’t happen,” Samantha assured her.

“If it does it won’t be the worst thing. I’ll still have my nose. They can’t take that away from me. Dr. Diamond did too good a job.”

As the two women walked up Columbus Avenue, crowds of people began pouring into the streets.

“They must be filming a late-night Who Wants to Be a Millionaire at ABC on Sixty-seventh Street,” Adrienne said. “At least our lives aren’t so pathetic that we’d want to go to that.”

Ambulances and fire trucks began roaring down the street as a black smoke filled the air.

“Oh God!” Adrienne grabbed Samantha’s hand. “Do you think it’s happening again?”

“Don’t jump to conclusions, Adrienne!” Samantha tried to cover her own fear.

Fire engines were clanging down the street. Police cars with sirens followed with loudspeakers announcing “Clear the street. Clear the street.”

“Dammit! Of course this is what happens when I decide to take the bus! Well, the good news is maybe Paul will never go to jail ’cause we’re all gonna blow up.” Adrienne began pushing her way through the crowd.

Samantha pulled Adrienne over to a newsman with a camera crew.

“What’s happened here?” Samantha asked.

“The Starbucks on Sixty-seventh and Columbus blew up. It’s not clear if it’s a suicide bomb or a water main break.”