We walked ten blocks east and ended up in what appeared to be a completely abandoned block. No sign of life on the street anywhere. Jack lit a fat joint and passed it to me. Then he coughed out the words, “Follow me,” and we entered this gloomy warehouse building. Inside we were in a long empty hallway, strung with bare bulbs in the ceiling. At the end of the corridor, bathed in murky blue light, an old guy sat at a little table. We handed him ten bucks each. Then he pushed a button and a door in front of us opened a crack and a roar flowed over us like the crashing sea. A throbbing beat, flashing lights, sweat.

The place was an enormous cave called Infinity. Probably the biggest indoor space I’ve ever been in. Like the old gym at my high school, but with really high ceilings and everything wrapped in pulsing neon. The way it was laid out it gave the impression of extending in every direction, limitless. On the main floor were about five hundred people dancing to the loudest music I’ve ever heard. The sound was like a vast molten sea and everyone was drowning in it. The beat was so strong it shook my guts.

Jack wedged himself into the crowd, dancing with nobody in particular. The throng swallowed him up and I lost him. Lots of gays were there, dancing with each other. But lots of women too. (Lesbians?) Everyone happy and wild. People wearing cowboy hats, some in shimmery sequins, other folks naked from the waist up. Dancing was all there was. I timidly imitated Jack, and danced by myself, as if anyone could give a shit. After I built up some confidence, I danced with women, sometimes with men. But if I tried to talk to any of the women, they smiled deafly and danced away.

It was like everyone in the place was on a mission to dance themselves to death. I caught the fever and didn’t want to stop either. Any sense of time disappeared as one tempo flowed into the next. Then someone handed me a tiny brown bottle of liquid and indicated that I should sniff it. Before I could react to the strong chemical smell of the vapor, the room exploded like massive mirrors shattering. The splinters spun into cyclones of color. The walls fell away.

I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I was surfing on a kaleidoscopic euphoria swirling into oblivion. My knees went weak. My heart pounded. My brain roared. I tried to hang on to my senses, then realized that even if I did collapse the gut-thumping music was so powerful it would prop up my physical body. I was safe! Pretty soon I was reaching out for the little brown bottle whenever it passed by.